Qatar 2019: Day 1 â Quotes of the Day
11 Oct. 2019
Throughout each matchday at the ANOC World Beach Games â Qatar 2019, IHF.info will bring you quotes from all of those involved in the menâs and womenâs beach handball competitions.
USA menâs pivot Andrew Donlin after losing 2-0 against European champions Denmark in their opening game:
âWe knew Denmark were going to come out strong; they are coming off of winning the EURO championship and they have a lot of strong players, so we were expecting a tough game.
âAny time you come into a big competition like this, in the first game you always have a few cobwebs no matter how good your training was. We felt we came in prepared, but I think it was a combination of things [that we lost]. Weâve just got to tighten up, but I think those are easy things to improve.
âItâs our first time as a team here and weâre still relatively young, but weâve got a lot of talented guys. Weâre grateful to be here but we just donât want to âbeâ here, we want to win too. Weâre just going to take this experience and hopefully build off of it.
âWeâve got a lot of talented guys in Ebiye, Jacob, Alex and Charlie on offence especially; when one guy does well it opens up other things for other guys and we definitely feed off of each other.
âIn the past couple of years weâve had a lot of big competitions, so we know a lot of the guys and itâs kind of like a family reunion. Beach handball is a small community, so we know everybody, itâs definitely an honour and a blessing to be here.â
Brazil menâs pivot Gil Pires after beating Oman 2-0 in their opening game:
âItâs really, really hot where we have been training in Brazil but itâs not humid like here, however, when we put the first ball in the goal and see how we are playing and what we can do we just did it.
âWe studied Oman a lot, looking at how we can break their plays on the court. Our defence was amazing, and we have one specialist in attack - Bruno - and we put him in the best position to finish.
âWhen I saw the Olympic atmosphere last year at the beach handball at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, for me, it was a dream achieved and now we have been working a lot to be part of this World Beach Games.
âWe think that this is the first step to getting the sport in the Olympics and are focussed to win it. We have seen all the other countries here and talking with the other sports. To talk with the other sports to feel this is really good, itâs like the Olympics. We taste a little bit of this in the World Games and now here, but with an Olympic feel.
âWe came to win and have been training a lot; three times a day for 20 days straight before coming and we are ready to do our best here. We came with our best players, the best mentality to win, but we know that this is going to be the hardest competition we play for because here you just have the best teams of the world, so we have hard work, but we came here focussed to win again.â
Greece womenâs coach Maria Karantoni after her side beat China 2-0 in their opening gameâŠ
âIt is very important for us to start with a win because we know in this temperature we cannot play at a high level because itâs impossible, but itâs very good that we won our first game and we found our cooperation.
âChina are good, they are really good and really fast, and we must be careful, but you have to be careful of every team because this is a high-level event.
âOur players today learnt they need to run a lot, even if the circumstances are not good and the weather is like this. I want more from them; they can play at a higher level.
âWe need to be honest; Magda Kepesidou is a very big miss for us, but we will try to find solutions here to cover â a more aggressive defence. We also practised with our two new goalkeepers very much and I think we will be OK
âOur first goal is to pass into the first four so we can go to the final eight, itâs the knockout match and everything can happen. Everyone wants to beat us as we are world champions and we feel that responsibility.â
Hungary womenâs goalkeeper Agnes Gyori after their 2-0 victory over the USA in their opening gameâŠ
âI feel fantastic; the first win is the most important in a tournament and we won, so I am happy, but I want a medal. This is a good atmosphere here, there are a lot of people here and a lot of countries.â
Denmarkâs goalkeeper Maria-Teresa Gronning Faurhoj after her side defeated Tunisia 2-0 in their first game...
âIt feels really good as this was our first match. We had some good training matches for the past two days since we arrived and are feeling good, we have four new players in the team who have already got into the game.
âTunisia also got tired in the heat, but we stayed focused throughout the game, did what we were good at it, and stuck to our assignments.
âYou always feel proud to represent your country and continent and I donât know if we really feel much pressure as we are the European champions, but everybody wants to be everybody, itâs only good teams that are here, so of course, everybody wants to beat us.
âYou do definitely an Olympic Village spirit here. We were some of the first people to come at the beginning, so it was a bit quiet, but more people have come now, and we have already met some of the other Danish athletes, so itâs nice to look at what those guys are playing and getting to know other sports.â
Brazil womenâs coach Marcio Magliano on the difficulties they faced early on against Argentina before winning 2-0âŠ
âIn the first game anxiety is usual but they played really well. The first moments of competition are always tense, but, eventually, we played âlike Brazilâ. For us, the start of a tournament is always the maximum moment for us; itâs what we love to do, and we are all excited.
âArgentina played in a way they have never played against us; they were changing their attack every time, so we were not prepared for that. We didnât practice playing a team that would change during their attacks, but my players know what to do in one formation and another. I just told them [in the early time out] to take a moment, to read and make their movements, and they started to respond.
âThey are very good players, but they just needed a start to get their rhythm. Anyone that works with sport must value their achievements, so when we won bronze at the world championships last year, it is something to be remembered, although we didnât have as good preparation there as we had here, I was happy because we were in the photo â we were on the podium and that is something youâve got to celebrate.â