Last night, Spain beat Sweden for the second time in a major competition in a few months, with a 2-1 shoot-out victory in the semi-final of the men’s beach handball competition at the ANOC World Beach Games – Qatar 2019.

Back in July, the Spanish side defeated the Swedes in the 9/10 placement match at the EHF Men’s European Championship and IHF.info spoke with left wing Gonzalo Manuel Cervera Perez de Vargas, goalkeeper Ricardo Eduardo Amerigo Fernandez and President of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation, Francisco Vidal Blazquez Garcia, about their place in the final.

IHF.info: How are you feeling after that victory, you are in the final…

Gonzalo Manuel Cervera Perez de Vargas: There are no words to describe my feeling now it’s incredible it’s our first final this summer, it’s incredible, but I think we can play better in the final than we did today. These players are my family.

Ricardo Eduardo Amerigo Fernandez: The feeling is unbelievable right now. We have been training a lot for a long time for this and now it’s amazing. We only think about the feeling in the team and winning the championship.

IHF.info: There is a saying that ‘it is not how you start a championship it is how you finish it’. Your preliminary group campaign saw you lose three times but now you are in the final.

Ricardo Eduardo Amerigo Fernandez: Exactly. We are getting stronger. We were thinking In the group maybe we are not playing like ‘Spain’. But now we are flying, although the final be very, very, difficult.

IHF.info: How important is it for beach handball back in Spain to have a team in the final of the first-ever ANOC World Beach Games?

Francisco Vidal Blazquez Garcia: We support the team win or lose and appearing in finals is the best to development beach handball towards the Olympic Games.

To get to the final is very important because in Spain we have the best national championship in the world and it’s the best for development too. This final spot in the World Games is a result of all the hard work from the clubs, coaches, players over a long time, many years. 

This will inspire young people for the future of the sport – just like winning the men’s competition has at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. 

This is all the result of a lot of hard work for many years, but this team already has a gold medal for me, no matter what happens.