From July 12 to 18, fans, players, and communities across the globe will unite for seven unforgettable days dedicated to the sport’s rich history, vibrant present, and promising future. The International Handball Week is here and we are focusing on all disciplines of the sport, highlighting some fantastic stories throughout the handball world. Today, we hear from People’s Republic of China women’s youth national beach handball coach Xi Shang and player Yi Pan about their recent world championship experience and future of the sport.

After making their debut at the inaugural IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in Mauritius back in 2017, China’s youth women did not qualify for the 2022 edition in Greece.

However, three years later, they returned to the global stage, qualifying for the 2025 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in Tunisia thanks to winning all six of their games on the way to their 2024 Asian championship title.

Both the youth and senior Chinese national teams are led by head coach Xi Shang, who was part of the coaching staff back in 2017 and who led the senior women’s team in their role as world championship hosts last year.

Xi 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. Nine years ago, in 2016, he started beach handball coaching and, ever since, has been part of the national senior and youth team coaching teams.

“When we play indoor handball in China, a lot of the time we also play beach handball,” explained Xi about his move onto the sand. “As an indoor handball coach, I led my team to three national championships, so the Chinese Handball Association wanted me to do the same job with the beach teams and asked me.

The eastern and southern Chinese provinces of Shandong, Anhui and Guangxi are generally where Xi conducts his talent identification process for potential national team players in addition to national and regional championships – “beach handball players are more expressive and want to show themselves - more than athletes in other sports,” said Xi about the players he works with.

The most recent group – his squad of 10 for Tunisia 2025 – featured players exclusively from all three provinces, led by Shandong (7 players), Guangxi (2) and Anhui (1).

In North Africa last month they found themselves with a very tough start, facing eventual bronze and silver medallists, respectively, in their first two games, losing against Netherlands 0-2 (18:26, 14:19) in their opener and then Germany 0-2 (18:31, 9:33). However, they sealed qualification to the main round with a 2-0 (16:10, 28:15) win over Kenya.

The second stage was disappointing. A 1-2 (14:15, 22:21, SO 2:5) loss to Thailand – who they beat in their continental competition 12 months earlier – in their final game coming after two 0-2 losses against France (18:28, 10:26) and tight defeat to Brazil (16:19, 16:18).

However, the Chinese fighting spirit shone through in the end as they finished with three wins in a row to rank inside the top 10. They arrived there by beating teams from three different continents, starting with Bulgaria 2-0 (23:22, 25:20), Thailand, 2-1 (16:20, 22:20, SO 5:2) and then hosts Tunisia on the central court and under pressure from the home fans, 2-0 (20:13, 28:22).

“Our girls were, in general, less experienced compared with the other teams, so they were nervous when the world championship started,” explained coach Xi about the experience of his players in Tunisia.

“As it went on though, they became more and more experienced, more accustomed to the games – it was evident and then the wins came. After the Bulgaria match, they had released their stress inside and this improved their teamwork; it all worked together.

“The teams in general in Tunisia have more teams to compete against in their continent than we do. In Asia, our qualification tournament only featured four teams so we had little communication exchanges with other teams before we arrived in North Africa. However, after we arrived, as I said, we became more accustomed to the games, and the players really built their teamwork match-by-match.”

And player Yi Pan echoed her coaches’ thoughts.

“We worked on improving our teamwork, it was our team spirit which helped us to win the games,” said the player from Guangxi. “I had never been to Africa before and felt great, very happy there.”

At 17-years-old, Yi was one of the older squad members in Tunisia and is set for a busy August as she is likely to be named in the provisional China women’s squad for The World Games.

Yi’s journey in beach handball started less than five years ago, in 2021, and there are a number of key elements which attracted her to the sport.

“Teamwork is, obviously, an important part of beach handball but, for me, I find the individual technique fascinating,” she said. “There is a difference between the Asian and European physiques and, as Asians, we continue to learn from the Europeans. We are making progress and one day, we hope to compete at their level.

“We are also less outgoing than the European and other teams,” she added. “I really like the vibe of the European teams; I like the way they are cheering for their own teams before and during the matches.”

Back in 1999, the China hosted its first world championship – the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship – followed by the handball competitions at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and then the 2009 IHF Women’s World Championship. There was a long break until their next indoor event, the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, completing the full set of hosting women’s events.

Also in 2024 China hosted the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships on Pingtan Island and this August coming, The World Games comes to Chengdu, complete with its men’s and women’s beach handball competitions.

“The two world championships last year and The World Games this year will obviously improve the popularity of beach handball in China,” said coach Xi about how he feels his nation will benefit from being hosts of the global events.

“But I can already see the progression of the sport – I have been to beach handball world championships previously, but at that time, the tactics of all the teams I would say were not that ‘mature’. Now, the teams, the sport itself is fast growing, and we already saw in Tunisia that teams advanced in their tactics and their skills considerably.

“We all hope that one day beach handball can make it into the Olympic Games, in addition to the Youth Olympic Games already, as it can be very influential there.”