A joint-highest rank of seventh at the last IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship was impressive, considering the championship featured 16 teams for the first time, compared to the 12 teams when Argentina finished seventh for the first time, back in 2016 after winning the consolation round.

Blood, sweat, tears and a whole lot more have been invested in the sport in the South American nation in the past decade with their initial gold at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, followed by a continental title won at the expense of perennial rivals Brazil in 2022, which also meant qualification through to 2022 edition of The World Games, where they won bronze, defeating hosts USA in the medal match.

A few weeks earlier, at Greece 2022, 2-0 victories over Uruguay and Australia were followed by a 0-2 loss against eventual bronze medallists Netherlands but it was enough for the South Americans to qualify through to the main round where a 2-1 victory over Norway saw them make the quarter-finals, despite 0-2 losses against Brazil and eventual gold medallists Germany.

But their last eight draw was tough, facing reigning champions Greece. This did not faze Argentina though as, perhaps, one of their best-ever performances in a single, world championship set followed with an almost-perfect 33:22 take down of the hosts. The Europeans came back in the second (19:16) to move it to the shoot-out, where shots four and five were missed by Argentina to allow the Greek side through to the last four, and medal games.

Despite losing to Brazil again in their 5-8 placement match (0-2), Argentina impressed against Portugal, taking a clean 2-0 to claim seventh and a few weeks later 

Two years later, in 2024, Brazil reasserted their continental authority, defeating Argentina in the final of the continental event held in Paraguay, with both teams qualifying through to China 2024.

Argentina had won their first three round-robin preliminary group games 2-0 (against Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) before seeing off Brazil in their final one, 7:6 via shoot-out, but Brazil regrouped overnight to take a comprehensive 2-0 (21:12, 24:20) victory in the final for the title.

And just a few weeks after that, they faced off again at Stage 1 of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour (BHGT) in Maricá, Brazil. 

Argentina defeated Portugal, 2-1 (16:19, 20:14, SO 6:4), as well as Uruguay, Puerto Rico and USA (2-0) in the round-robin stage, but lost twice to Brazil, once in the round-robin competition 1-2 (12:14, 24:16, SO 6:9) and then again in the final, 0-2 (14:20, 17:19), which they got to after a 2-0 semi-final victory over Uruguay.

It is these tiny margins that make Beach Handball such a fascinating sport and which coach Leticia Brunati – now head coach in her first senior IHF Beach Handball World Championship after graduating from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games squad and assistant to Salvador Comparone in 2022 – will be hoping can be turned in their favour in China, where they face Spain, Vietnam and Croatia in their preliminary group.

“It's a very tough group,” said coach Brunati to ihf.info. “Spain are one of the best teams in the world and they have achieved the finals in all tournaments – IHF World Championship, EHF European Championship and European Games – since 2022. They have a lot of good players in attack and defence, plus really good goalkeepers too.

“Vietnam are also a very good team. The team plays very well, very fast and their attack is very strong. I had the opportunity to see them in competition in Asia last year. “Finally, Croatia are a great team too. They have some players who were in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and the Croatian team is growing – like us – with young players. The group will be very close.”

Due to the ‘…delicate economic situation of the country, added to the high costs in foreign currency’ the Argentina Handball Confederation in April invited ‘…all those companies that believe in sport and the Argentine flag to join us in this China 2024 World Championship dream’ to help fund both their men’s and women’s senior sides to be present in Pingtan. A month later, the campaign was successful, with the teams’ average age of just 22 years old.

‘Who can tell us to stop dreaming?’ said the campaign and with players such as Fiorella Corimberto, Lucila Balsas and Gisela Bonomi in the team, there will certainly not be any lack of skill and class on show.

Brunati has made three changes to the squad which represented their country in Brazil last month. Agustina Mirotta and Luciana Scordamaglia return to the team after winning silver in Paraguay, while  Carolina Ponce returns after a 12-month absence.

“I see the team as a group both on and off the court in great shape, strengthened and eager to play,” said Micaela Corimberto to ihf.info, via the Argentina Handball Confederation.

“We come from two spectacular and high-level tournaments and continue working in search of great things. The main objective is to get through the preliminary group and reach the main round in the best position possible. But we never give up the possibility of dreaming big and reaching the top of the podium.

“Personally, I am very happy to play at my first IHF World Championship. I’m happy to be able to represent Argentina in another tournament and looking forward to competing and giving everything for the team.”

Key Players: Fiorella Corimberto, Lucila Balsas, Gisela Bonomi

Qualification information: 2024 SCAHC Women’s Beach Handball Championships – 2nd

History in Tournament: 2004-2012: DNQ, 2014: 11th, 2016: 7th, 2018: DNQ, 2022: 7th

Group at China 2024: Group B: Spain, Argentina, Vietnam, Croatia