Playing Germany in your first-ever competitive international game is a tough debut for any nation, but for Kenya, they faced this match-up not once, but twice on the opening day of the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in Tunisia.

As expected, the European powerhouse won both of their games 2-0, but it was not all plain sailing for them.

In the men’s match-up, Kenya were easily dispatched in the first set (30:7), while they kept in touch in the second, just four points behind midway through, before the Europeans stepped up to take a 34:16 victory. While in the women’s clash, Deborah Manganga stole the ball in defence early on, but her shot into a full-court empty German goal and put her side ahead went just wide and they eventually lost 2-0 (24:8, 32:6).

“I'm proud of my players,” said Kenya’s women’s coach Caroline Nyadiero after the first day. “They were listening to me, doing what we were telling them to do and you could see it was working. Our first strategy failed, then our second one did too, but then the third one was starting to work, but we did not have enough time as these 10-minute sets are so short.

“We changed our specialist several times and if you look at our defence, there was a time when the specialist became the defender, so going up and down the court attacking and defending, remaining on the court. 

“We identified the areas where we were leaking and we are going to block them so that it will work much better. They could have blocked much better and shot much better and we could have led, but it just happened the way it did,” she added. 

“We made around 20 technical mistakes, including many where we touched the line before scoring, so we are going to work on that, but this is the first time my girls have played outside of the country. For sure, for our next matches, if our strategy is not working, we will change it immediately.”

Grace Simiyu wrote her name in the Kenyan history books, scoring the first-ever points for her country at an IHF World Championship in that loss to Germany and she was happy for the experience on day one.

“I feel good, and this game will help us level up,” said Simiyu to ihf.info after the game. “I learned I need to be faster with the ball and not fumble it, but my aim is to score, of course. I feel good because it's our first time playing and our first time in Tunisia. I've not given up and we'll do better. 

“My aim for the next games is to score more, so that we level up and we all hope to go to the Youth Olympic Games next year.”

On the men’s side, Joseph Samuel scored the first-ever points for his country in a game which was a bit more competitive than their opponents expected.

“It is quite disappointing to lose, but we all hope to do well in the next games,” he said. “This is an opportunity for our country. We are feeling good to be here in Tunisia our ‘flame’ is good and as the games go on, we will improve.

“We learned how important speed is, so we will improve with it, along with accuracy. We hope to give our family, friends and family back home hope for our next games and for the rest of the championship.”

And his coach, Boaz MarokoI, was also impressed about the quickness on show from their opening day opponents.

“Yes, we learned that speed is very important in beach handball,” he said. “The shuffling in defence and attack speed is crucial in everything and we will improve on our speed and defence.

“But I really feel like we are making it. If we are given more opportunities like this, we can compete more evenly with the Germans in the future. Being at the world championship is a huge milestone for Kenya and it is our moment to show the world what Kenya’s youth can do.”

For their second matches, it got even tougher, with both Kenyan teams facing the reigning YAC 16 EURO champions. Kenya’s men lost 0:2 (20:32, 10:28) to Hungary, while the women were beaten by Netherlands 0:2 (6:20, 6:30).

But whatever happens on the court for the rest of this week, for Nyadiero, who is also a Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) Executive Board member (representing Coastal Branch), in charge of beach handball across the African nation and Chairperson of the Kenyan Handball Women’s Commission, the importance of being on the global stage is fundamental to everything she is trying to achieve with handball in the African country.

“I appreciate that we are here,” she said. “The fact that we can play even with Germany is a privilege for us, because they've been exposed to so much.

“It's a very big and good experience for us, and I know our people from our country are very proud of what we've done, and we are going to make them even more proud.

“This is more than just a tournament – it’s a powerful motivator, fuelling dreams and pushing teams to new heights. The energy of beach handball, combined with the passion of youth competition, creates an electrifying stage for future champions to shine. Let the sand, speed, and spirit of the game ignite a legacy that lasts beyond the final whistle.”