Exactly five seconds after Hungary won their quarter-final shoot-out against Tunisia, captain Zeteny ZARAY found himself almost at the bottom of a celebration pile of his fellow teammates, with just goalkeeper Adam KALHAMMER beneath him.

“I was on the sand and it was really heavy when everybody got on us, but I survived,” said a beaming ZARAY to IHF.info after the dramatic conclusion of the game which finished 2-1 (19:18, 20:22, SO 6:2).

“We are extremely happy but I'm basically speechless. I cannot really say anything. We worked for this all summer after the European championship and it's incredible.”

Despite the euphoria of the moment, ZARAY demonstrated the qualities which made coach Ferenc CSASZAR choose him as team captain.

Firstly, he took time to acknowledge the devastated Tunisian player Yassine ZAMMITI who had hit the post and was in floods of tears with his teammates.

“I feel really, really sorry for them because it was really close for us too. It was a 50-50 game,” said the player. “They were extremely physical, and on offence we had a lot of work to do because they were really big guys, but luckily we got on top and were the winners.”

And then, when asked for a short video with some of his teammates, he insisted on the missing ones all being there as it was all or nothing; “the best captain”, said a teammate to IHF.info about ZARAY while waiting for the group to be complete.

ZARAY’s leadership has been crucial for Hungary at Dakar 2026 as he has helped navigate his side through a preliminary group campaign which did not go entirely to plan thanks to losses against Senegal and Brazil.

Despite a win over Puerto Rico, the general consensus amongst Hungarian supporters before the Tunisia game was that the best showing of the side had not been seen yet and it was something that ZALAY was happy to acknowledge as a motivator to put in a performance against the North African side

“For sure it made us stronger mentally,” said ZARAY about the below-par performances in the preliminary group stage. 

“In my opinion, we needed that slap in the face for us to be like this in the quarter-finals and I'm really proud of the team. When I started with this team, I knew that that I could be in huge tournaments, but not on Olympic Games. But this team, I really love them. I can't really say anything else because in the summer and now they have made me really happy. We made each other really happy, and for these moments, I'm really thankful for them.”

Before ending the interview, ZARAY was keen to acknowledge the reasons why his team were able to make it through to an Olympic semi-final and the secret behind the strength of Hungarian beach handball.

“For Hungary, our coaches are the biggest advantage we have – we have extremely great coaches, and we learn from them a lot,” he said. “I'm thankful for the coaches and we will do everything to win this whole competition.”