After the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championships concluded in China, IHF.info speaks to the players and coaches involved on finals day (Sunday 23 June).

Women’s Competition

Final/Gold Medal Match: Argentina vs Germany 0-2 (16:24, 18:21)

Nele Kurzke (GER) - player

IHF.info: You’re here with your daughter after winning the gold, what does this mean to you?
Nele Kurzke: I think my daughter doesn't care because she's too young (laughs), but it means a lot to me. It means a lot to me because there are friends of mine here playing for Australia too. It is my first big tournament and I didn't expect that (to win), so it means everything.

IHF.info: You have experienced the highs and lows of the sport here, as the only goalkeeper you were disqualified in one game and now you have gold…
Nele Kurzke: I'm not used to Beach Handball so much because I am used to playing indoor so this is, I don't know, my sixth event with Beach Handball and it's so fast. It's faster than everything I know. I'm just overwhelmed.

IHF.info: What will be the biggest memory for you?
Nele Kurzke: Of course, the last save, because this was the most important thing of the tournament but every match every has brought us closer to what we have achieved now. I will remember the whole tournament.

Carolin Hubner (GER) - player

IHF.info: Your block at the end was very important, talk us through those last moments…
Carolin Hubner: Unbelievable. What we did in defence is unbelievable; incredible running and our plan worked out exactly. We put the Argentinians in the situations we wanted and then we got a lot out of the block at the end. That was very good overall.

Alexander Novakovic (GER) – coach 

IHF.info: How are you feeling? A back-to-back title…
Alexander Novakovic: You know, all the stories behind this next title…last year, I said I had no words. This year, it’s the same. It's a little bit more to show. It's a little bit more to…I can’t explain it or to see what happened because you had one so it's the second one you have a little bit of experience. 

It's crazy, but the willingness of my team after the quarter-finals and in the semi-final was perfect. This is the secret with a lot of trust in us as the last year or two. We have had big stones (weight of expectation) on our way to this title this year. Also, during the championship, other stones came from left, from right, from the upside and then from the top, so it's really a perfect performance to get this title again.

IHF.info: It takes two teams to play a final, a word on your opponents, Argentina…
Alexander Novakovic: They're brilliant. Coach Leticia Brunati is my friend. She was in Germany, we had breakfast together, we talked about Beach Handball, about tactics. I respect her a lot because the work what she did over the last years in Argentina is the same I did in Germany. I know the hard work involved in that. The team is brilliant. Maybe one or two years younger than my team and I'm really happy about having more finals against this brilliant team in the future.

Gisella Bonomi (ARG) – player

IHF.info: What are your thoughts on the final?
Gisella Bonomi: Experience is what Germany had in this final and that was decisive for them winning the match. We didn't do our best match, but we are really happy that we did a great tournament. We had all hopes to win and to be champions, but having progress from seventh position in the last world championship (Greece 2022) and now being second, that means a lot for us.

That advantage that we had of training our mentality failed in decisive moments of the match. Germany were really constant through all of the match, and that was the key to win for them. They are a really good team. 

IHF.info: Thoughts on the championship as a whole?
Gisella Bonomi: Right now, it’s amazing for us. It's really meaningful, seeing where we come from that keeps our hopes really high for next time.

3/4 Placement/Bronze Medal Match: Netherlands vs Denmark 2-0 (19:18, 22:20)

Peter Portengen (NED) – coach

IHF.info: How easy was it get your players to switch from losing the semi-final on Saturday to playing to win the bronze?
Peter Portengen: It was a lot to do this week. I'm very happy with the first set because we were quite dead and then we got back. It happens us a few times and now it goes the other way. We keep on believing in it and talking about it that we must trust in our game. It was not our best game today, but the efficiency was really, really good at the end. We just played quite simple things but scored all the time so then Denmark must keep on scoring.

Maybe Denmark played the first half better, but we win it on mentality. I'm happy with this and I'm very happy that we have a medal. If you see the group that we are in earlier, we almost lose to Greece and then we get into in quarter-final and play very good against Portugal. I'm very happy with the performance. My team leave this tournament very, very happy.

Meike Kruijer (NED) – player

IHF.info: A second, successive bronze, how does it feel?
Meike Kruijer: I'm really happy about it. It was a tough game, but we played really steady. That's the reason why we won it today. Hopefully, in two years we can reach the final one time and hopefully a gold medal, but two times bronze. It's always nice.

IHF.info: A word on your top-scorer Anna Buter, who scored the first set Golden Goal…
Meike Kruijer: When Anna plays, I believe every ball is a goal and the faith to have it really important for the team.

Gorm Andersen (DEN) - coach

IHF.info: You just fell short in the bronze medal match, how are you feeling?
Gorm Andersen: Today we lose fair and square. Netherlands’ plays a very good match. We have the chance in the first set…we have a lot of chances to come with six points and then I think we will win, but, unfortunately, we were not good enough in the last minutes.

A good tournament but we lose the wrong two matches and we sit here with nothing and it's hard now. I have to say though, my players – what a group.

IHF.info: Despite the loss, you have a The World Games place, is that some consolation?
Gorm Andersen: I'm just sad for the players. They think they have earned more than nothing so we must look at The World Games next year. Of course we are happy about that, but now I'm just sad. My players are very down now.