Sunday (10 August) saw the knockout stages get underway in the men’s and women’s beach handball competitions at The World Games Chengdu 2025, with eight quarter-finals, one after the other on the central court down on the edge of Xinglong Lake.

The day started and ended with heavy downpours of rain, mixed in with thunder some distant lightning and a serene calm in the middle of the afternoon.

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Argentina and Germany continue their road to the final

Both Argentina and title-holders Germany entered the first day of knockout games with a perfect record and both ended it with a perfect one.

They both recorded their fourth, consecutive 2-0 win in Chengdu, with the two sides beating Asian opposition – Argentina defeating continental champions Vietnam 2-0 (18:10, 15:14), a second set decided by a Zoe Turnes golden goal and Fiorella Corimberto top-scoring with 12 points.

That second set had seen Argentina cruising at 8:4 ahead in the fourth minute, but they proceeded to miss their next five attacks allowing the Vietnamese coming back into the game. However, a Turnes penalty shot calmed the nerves and put the South Americans ahead once more, at 10:8.

But as the thunder and heavy rain intense, the game went to a golden goal, locked at 14:14. As dramatic as the weather, both sides missed two opportunities each to seal the set, before Turnes got her hands on the ball.

“It was tough, really tough, one of the toughest, but we know that this sport is like this,” said Argentina’s Gisella Bonomi to ihf.info. “We play in every condition and in Argentina we train in every condition. We don't stop training because it's raining and that really helped us do a great job. It was normal for us. We keep on playing with joy and enjoying the game, so we don't care about the weather. We just want to play, and do a good match.

“We really did win this victory,” she added. “We didn't want it to go to shoot-out and we knew we had to end it – the golden goal was a situation that we have trained a lot for.”

Germany had an even smoother path to the semi-finals, defeating hosts China 2-0 (28:11, 22:5) in a strong defensive and attacking display. They were +10 within four minutes (14:4) and never looked back. Isabel Kattner ending with 16 points to end as top-scorer in the game – her total the same as the entire total of her opponents.

Portugal failed to get off the mark in the first set against neighbours Spain in their last eight match – which was played in calm weather conditions without rain – as the European champions secured a 20:6 opening set victory. The Portuguese came back in the second, but it was not enough as Spain took the second, to win 2-0 (20:6, 18:14). Mariam Gonzalez Llambrich ended with 15 points for Spain.

“To be in semi-finals of another grand tournament is just an amazing feeling for us,” said Spain’s Mireia Torras to ihf.info. “When we started, it had rained so we were already wet. It was an experience. It was nice that it stopped raining just when we were about to start, so we had a dry-ish game.

“We are two teams that we know each other very well. We played several times during the summer, and they have also a nice coach that knows us, he knows how we play, how to stop us, but not today.”

The last quarter-final was headlined by Denmark’s Ditte Vind in goal, her second set performance ensuring the Danes finished with a 2-0 (19:8, 14:12) win against Croatia, who could only manage four goals in the first half. Ida Winding’s 10 points ensuring she ended as the top scorer.

“It’s just pure joy. I don't know how to describe it,” said Vind about reaching the semi-finals, to ihf.info. “It was just so anxious in the end, because we couldn't really score that many goals, and I just knew that I had to make a difference, and the defence had to do something to stop them.

“It was pure joy that we could stop their last one, because, before that, they got a few goals so I was just getting a little bit anxious.”

Title-holders and world champions Croatia out of contention

After an unprecedented three losses in their three preliminary group games, Croatia made it four losses in a row as they crashed out of medal contention in Chengdu with a 2-0 (15:12, 17:16) loss to Spain.

As the thunder rumbled in Chengdu, maybe it was a sign of the storm approaching the Croatians who put their captain Ivan Juric back in his dual role of both attack and defence, while working on the line early on. With the rain teeming down and around the arena pools of water forming, the two sides made numerous technical errors – understandably – the scoring not opening until just under two minutes.

Alberto Castro scored the winning second set point to ensure the 2-0 win, despite leading 16:10 with just over two minutes left. Pablo Martin and Gonzalo Cervera both top-scored for the Spain, on 10 points each.

“It was really, really bad to play in these conditions. But this is beach handball and I feel very excited to be in the semi-finals,” said Castro to ihf.info. “We played a great match in bad conditions and now we’re in the semi-finals and we very happy. We know it will be a very, very difficult match, but we are very focused on it.”

Tunisia nearly caused an upset in their quarter-final against world championship bronze medallists Portugal, winning the first set (22:20) before the Europeans came back in the second to take a 23:16 win and move the game into a shoot-out.

Both Tunisia’s Hamza Fallah and Portugal’s Diogo Ferreira missed shots early on, but after Mohamed Aziz Haffar missed Tunisia’s fourth, it was left to Tiago Costa to seal the win (8:6) following a pause after Tunisia’s goalkeeper Wassim Zariat was red-carded for foul.

“Conditions were terrible but they were terrible for the both sides. Tunisia was best in the first set, so we needed to breathe a little bit and organise for the second set; we gave a very positive answer,” said Ricardo Castro to ihf.info.

“At half-time it was normal because we were a little bit disoriented, due to the conditions. The match was not going the way we expected, and we couldn’t find answers. So we just put our minds on the focus on the match, and tried to grab the win in the second.”

Brazil had the easiest path to the last four, Nailson Amaral’s 19 points a large part of their 2-0 (24:12, 21:18) win over the host nation, China.

“Our coach was talking at half-time and said, maybe this was a strategy of China; play the first set quiet and come back in the second,” said Brazil’s Hugo Fernades to ihf.info. “In the second set, they scored a lot of goals, and it was more difficult than the first, but it was a good game.

The last match of the day was a modern-day classic, with Germany eventually overcoming Denmark 10:8 in the shoot-out, Christian Nielsen missing Denmark’s first shot in the first round and first shot of the second round.

The first set had seen Denmark win by a point (24:23) before Germany powered back in the second (14:12) – despite the two sides being equal (8:8) in the eighth minute. Martin Andersen top-scored with 18 points.

“The weather was not good for both teams – everyone can see it. We have many problems with the ball as it was a little bit slippy, but we are very happy,” said Germany’s Robin John to ihf.info.

The World Games Chengdu 2025 – Beach Handball: Day 4 results

Sunday 10 August

Quarter-Finals

Women’s Competition
ARG vs VIE 2-0 (18:10, 15:14)
ESP vs POR 2-0 (20:6, 18:14)
GER vs CHN 2-0 (28:11, 22:5)
CRO vs DEN 0-2 (8:19, 12:14)

Men’s Competition
ESP vs CRO 2-0 (15:12, 17:16)
POR vs TUN 2-1 (20:22, 23:16, SO 8:6)
BRA vs CHN 2-0 (24:12, 21:18)
DEN vs GER 1-2 24:23, 12:14, SO 8:10)