At Tunisia 2025, the Asian champions faced a tough opening, losing to European heavyweights Netherlands and Germany 0-2 to set up what was effectively a main round play-off against Kenya, which they won 2-0 (16:10, 28:15).

Three losses followed in the main round (France, Thailand, Brazil) which put the Chinese side into 9-16 placement round where they found their feet in the African sand, beating Bulgaria, reversing their loss against Thailand and an impressive 9/10 placement match defeat of hosts Tunisia 2-0.

Due to age restrictions in place for Dakar 2026, just one of the Chinese squad from Tunisia 2025 will be in Senegal; goalkeeper Xinyi SUI. Hailing from Anhui province, SUI played eight of China’s nine matches in Africa, ending with a 22% save rate (28 stops from 128 shots faced).

SUI is one of three players in the provisional China squad of 20 for Dakar 2026 from the eastern province, the bordering Jiangsu provides a quartet of players, with Shandong – bordering Jiangsu itself – provides the bulk of the squad (11), the remaining two players registered to the ‘Chinese National Club’.

China’s younger age beach teams have a history, their women’s team appearing at the inaugural IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in Mauritius back in 2017. 

After missing the 2022 edition in Greece they then qualified to Tunisia 2025 as Asian champions after winning all six of their games on the way to their 2024 Asian championship title.

Head coach Xi SHANG, who has shared coaching duties with Ping SHEN for many years, was part of the coaching staff back in 2017 and has also overseen the senior women’s team as well.

SHANG played indoor handball for the whole of his athletic career – including winning bronze with China at the 1991 AHF Men’s Asian Championships in Japan – before moving into coaching. In 2016, he started beach handball coaching and has been part of the national senior and youth team coaching teams ever since.

His side will have to be at their best in their Dakar 2026 preliminary group with the tough challenge of Spain and Croatia facing them, as well as Mexico.

“Our group features all strong opponents. Spain claimed the title at the 2025 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship last year, Croatia are a top European side, while Mexico stands as a powerhouse from North America,” said China team manager Yin LEI to IHF.info.

“As a young squad, the Chinese team will approach every game with a mindset of learning from our rivals. We will aim to play to our own style and standard, and showcase the spirit of Chinese youth in the new era in the Youth Olympic Games arena.

“Our ultimate goal is to strive for a top-four finish, but, more importantly, we will focus on competing well in every match and every single possession.”

To prepare for Dakar 2026 China have had numerous training camps around the country, ending with a November camp at the Tianchengtai Resort in Leizhou, Zhanjiang in Guangdong province.

The intense preparations started in September with a wider squad featuring the 2009-2011 generation from Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and Xinjiang at Weifang Sports School. It took in core areas such as ‘…offensive and defensive tactical coordination, beach court adaptation, physical endurance improvement, and on-the-spot adaptability training. It aims to address weaknesses, strengthen strengths, and comprehensively hone the team's overall competitive level and team cohesion’, according to chinesehandball.cn.

The following month the squad travelled to Hong Kong to compete in the Bauhinia Cup Asian Beach Handball Invitational Tournament in mid-October. They faced two Hong Kong national teams and Japan, playing a total of five games (16 to 19 October) finishing second with three wins and two losses.

Coaches: Xi SHANG, Ping SHEN
Key players: Xinyi SU (Goalkeeper)
Qualification information: Tunisia 2025 – 9th, Asian representative place
History in tournament: 2018: DNQ
Group at Dakar 2026: Group A – People’s Republic of China (CHN), Croatia (CRO), Mexico (MEX), Spain (ESP)