Tunisia men make their long-awaited debut at an IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship, coming to China as African champions, having won the African Beach Games in Hammamet on home sand in June 2023.

The event, which also doubles-up as a de-facto African championship, saw Tunisia breeze to victory, defeating Algeria and Kenya 2-0 in the preliminary stage and then knocking out Libya 2-0 (22:14, 18:16) in the semi-final. In the all-North African final, a backwards-and-forwards match saw Morocco eventually seen off 2-1 (15:21, 21:16, SO 14:12) after a shoot-out which went to a second round of shots.

The same venue in Hammamet had seen Tunisia win Stage 2 of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour a few days earlier, where they took the stage victory after wins against Algeria plus double victories against Morocco and Togo, including Morocco in the final.

Tunisia’s Marwen Chetioui was named as the MVP of that stage and is one of 15 players named in coach Mohamed Tabboubi’s provisional squad for China 2024.

In early March, Tunisia hosted a three-team friendly tournament featuring France and Denmark with the host nation beating France 2-0 (24:16, 20:16) and losing narrowly to Denmark 0-2 (24:26, 16:18).

While the squads did not feature Chetioui, they did feature left wings Nassim Ouji and Hamza Fellah, plus specialist Bachar Rhimi, with the trio providing the majority of the points and Bachar one of trio of new players born in 2006, alongside Mohamed Badis (pivot) and Wissem Labidi (goalkeeper) who played in tournament, fellow 2006 generation player, Adam Lazreg (pivot), has been named in the provisional list.

“These high-level confrontations against these great nations have proven to be extremely valuable, and will play a crucial role in our preparation for the world championship,” said Ouji to IHF.info after the event, a view backed up by coach Tabboubi.

“We are now looking ahead to the world championship after playing two major opponents: France, in search of qualification for the Euro, and Denmark, a world-renowned team, including exceptional players holding records.

“By integrating young talents born in 2006 identified during our talent identification last June, we aim to continue to develop our discipline in order to maintain the performance of our national team at its highest level for as long as possible.”

Tunisia will face Brazil, Spain and China in Pingtan in their preliminary group and they have entered their final stage of preparation by training in the north-eastern coastal town of Nabeul twice a day.

Coach: Mohamed Tabboubi

Key Players: Marwen Chetioui, Nassim Ouji, Hamza Fellah, Bachar Rhimi

Qualification information: African Beach Games champions

History in Tournament: 2004-2022: DNQ

Group at China 2024: Group B: Brazil, People’s Republic of China, Spain, Tunisia