The 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championships opened on Tuesday at the 'Pingtan International Beach Sports Base' on Pingtan Island, People's Republic of China with eight games featuring all 16 teams.

Croatia men fight until very end to start with a perfect 2-0
In the very first game of China 2024, men’s title-holders Croatia lined up on their neighbouring court to women’s title-holders Germany, with Beach Handball fans spoilt for choice in Pingtan.

And after a strong first set, taken by the champions 16:12, Portugal pushed back to make it 20:20 with just 10 seconds left of the second set. 

After a Portuguese time out, the ball was worked out to Ruben Ribeiro on the right wing, but his shot hit the post. A time out followed (09:58) from Croatia, but they did not have enough time to mount a serious attack and so it went to a golden goal, with Ivan Dumencic being worked the ball and shooting home from the middle.

“It was a really tough match, so we are exhausted,” said Dumencic after the game. “Portugal did a good preparation for our game but we managed to play really, really good defence in both sets. In the second set, which was very close, we used our experience to win on the golden goal. 

“Yesterday, in our last training we practised golden goals. It's four against three so, somewhere, there is open space or an open player. We just need to be smart and concentrated in that moment.”

And Dumencic is well-aware that, as champions, everyone wants to beat his side. “Everybody wants to win against the champions, always. This is how life works and not only in sports, but that's okay; we are prepared for that and need to be ready for that challenge.”

Germany’s men returned to world championship action for the first time since 2006, defeating Uruguay 2-0 (24:20, 23:17).

“It feels great,” said Germany’s Robin John, who top-scored with 16 points. “We work for this over a few years and we are very happy to win this game. Normally, our defence is key, but today, our offence was key.”

In the clash of the two debutant teams, African champions Tunisia defeated the host nation 7:6 via shoot-out, after losing the first set (16:18), but taking the second (24:22) in front of a noisy, packed central court.

“We won today because we played as a group,” said Tunisia’s Archaf Margheli after the victory. “Playing China was very wonderful: the crowd, they love their team, but today we played like warriors.

“For us all, it’s our first world championship participation, but our team is very invested in young players. We have very good team and we will fight in our next two games and see what happens – we will play all the games like a final, and will fight to be in the first teams – why not?”

Asian champions Qatar were beaten via shoot-out (2:8) against the USA, in a strong defensive performance in the second set and shoot-out itself from the North American team. The US had emphatically won the first set (28:18), but were pegged back in the second (12:20) before taking the victory.

“I’m feeling ecstatic,” said the USA’s Ebiye Jeremy. “Qatar was a team that gave us a run for our money the first time we played them and this result is testament to the amount of work that we've put in over eight years.”

In other results, Argentina beat Puerto Rico 2-0 (16:10, 16:12), Denmark saw off Australia 2-0 (22:12, 33:16), European champions Hungary beat Oman 2-0 (17:12, 16:14) and a shoot-out win ensured Brazil dispatched Spain 2-1 (16:18, 19:18, SO 6:4).

Results – Tuesday 18 June 2024

Preliminary Group

Men’s Competition
ARG vs PUR 2-0 (16:10, 16:12)
CRO vs POR 2-0 (16:12, 22:20)
DEN vs AUS 2-0 (22:12, 33:16)
HUN vs OMA 2-0 (17:12, 16:14)
BRA vs ESP 2-1 (16:18, 19:18, SO 6:4)
QAT vs USA 1-2 (18:28, 20:12, SO 2:8)
GER vs URU 2-0 (24:20, 23:17)
CHN vs TUN 1-2 (18:16, 22:24, SO 6:7)