The Australian men return to IHF Beach Handball World Championship action after losing their qualification spot to New Zealand last time out, for Greece 2022.

And they have had to wait over a year for the chance after qualifying way back in April 2023 at the 2023 Oceania Beach Handball Championships.

They secured their ticket by beating their neighbouring rivals in the final held on the Gold Coast’s Coolangatta Beach for the first time since the lifting of the then Covid-related travel restrictions.

The competition saw a total of seven games played between Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands with each team playing each other twice in the group stages and the top two teams then going directly through to the final.

Australia opened up their campaign with a 2-1 win, although were unexpectedly taken to a shoot-out by the Cook Islands. Their second match, against New Zealand saw the shoot-out result reversed with the Kiwi’s putting themselves in prime position for a China 2024 ticket with their victory.

However, Australia came back strongly to see off both sides 2-0 in their second encounters to set up a final against New Zealand for not only the China 2024 ticket but for the then scheduled ANOC World Beach Games in Bali, which was later cancelled at short notice.

The final was extremely tense, eventually going to a shoot-out. Australia took the first set 18:16, but the visitors struck back in the second to take it 20:18 and even the score up. It could not get any tighter in the shoot-out. With Australia taking a 12:10 lead, New Zealand had to score to stay in with a chance of winning, but they hit the bar and the title stayed in Australia.

Since then, as expected, there have been a lot of changes to the coaching and playing squad with Lukas Turecek announced as coach in April.

The former national team goalkeeper, who made his playing debut in 2012, will be making his international coaching debut in Pingtan and has named a squad with a mixture of experience.

MVP of the 2023 Oceania Championships, defender Cade Elliott, has been named alongside the experienced captain Daniel Fogerty, who made his debut in 2016 and played alongside Turecek at the 2018 IHF Beach Handball World Championships in Kazan, Russia, as did left wing Matt Campbell.

Even though defender Sina Amidpour made his first appearance back in 2018, global beach handball fans have yet to see him make his bow on the world stage, while goalkeeper Ben Wesley will make his national team debut in Pingtan. Specialist Christopher Pinder appeared for Australia for the first time at the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in Qatar and has been part of the squad ever since.

Left wing Nathan Deslandes moved over from athletics to play beach handball and like right wing Damien Greig, made his debut at the Oceania Championships in 2023. Goalkeeper George Alfieris made his beach handball debut for Australia in 2022 after moving over from the indoor game where he represented Australia at both youth and junior levels.

The team has been supported in their 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship campaign financially through their Australian Sports Foundation Fundraising campaign.

Coach: Lucas Turecek

Key Players: Cade Elliot, Daniel Fogerty, George Alfieris

Qualification information: 2023 OCHF Oceania Beach Handball Championships – 1st

History in Tournament: 2004-2008: DNQ, 2010: 12th, 2012: 12th, 2014: 11th, 2016: 12th, 2018: 13th, 2022: DNQ

Group at China 2024: Group A: Hungary, Denmark, Oman, Australia