France prevail on Tunisian sand

14 Mar. 2023

France prevail on Tunisian sand

African Beach Games champions Tunisia faced Sweden and two France representative teams this past weekend (11 and 12 March) in the ‘Hammamet Beach Handball Tournoi International’ held at the Hotel Royal Azur in Hammamet, Tunisia.

In the competition, organised by the Tunisian Handball Federation and Sporsora Events, a total of eight matches were played, with six going to shoot-outs, including the final, which was won by France (1). Tunisia also held a three-day national team camp in the lead-up to the event.

The opening match of the tournament saw the hosts beat the eventual winners France (1) 7:6 via shoot-out, with Nassim Ouji scoring the winning point. Marwan Chtioui (16 points) and Jordan Yamdjeu (18) were the top scorers for Tunisia and France respectively.

France (2) won match two thanks to a 7:4 shoot-out win against Sweden, despite an outstanding game from Victor Paldanius, who scored 20 points for the Scandinavians. Mathias Bertrand had an influential game for the French, scoring the winning point to take the first set and then scoring a single point to secure the shoot-out win.

Tunisia then faced France (2) in their late match on the opening day. It was a strange match with two clear set wins for each side before Tunisia missed all their shoot-out attempts to hand a win to the French 2-1 (24:13, 6:15, SO 7:0).

In the final match of the first day of action, the first clear match was played. France (1) defeated Sweden 2-0 thanks to Axel Deschamps scoring 19 points, including the winning single-point goal in the second set.

On the second day of action, the host nation needed to secure a win against Sweden to book their place in the final, and they did it, just. A one-point first-set win (15:14) was secured by Hamaz Fallah with a late single point, but Sweden came back, led by Paldanius (16 points in total), to take the second (20:14). Nassim Ouji then ensured his only point scored in the whole match was important – his strike securing a 7:6 shoot-out win.

Both the French teams then went head-to-head in the final group match of the tournament, with France (1) taking a 2-0 win thanks to 12 points from Nicolas Desbonnet, brother of French (indoor) national goalkeeper Remi. Adama Sako scored the winning first-set points (16:14) to set up an easier second (20:12).

Despite a strong showing from both Nicolas and Sebastien Desbonnet for France, scoring eight points each, Sweden won third place with a 2-1 (17:14, 14:16, SO 5-2) win.

The final was a repeat of the opening match, with the opposite result. France (1) took a 2-1 (8:10, 18:16, SO 9:6) win over the hosts. Ouji secured the first set for the home side before Yohan Bourgueil ensured it went to a shoot-out for France, with Loucas Contiero’s single point sealing the match.

“During the weekend, we saw a good level of beach handball practiced by all the teams in a friendly and festive atmosphere with ideal weather conditions,” said Kamil Borgi, President of the Tunisian National League of Beach Handball, Chairman of the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) Beach Handball Working Group and IHF Technical Delegate, to ihf.info. 

“This tournament was a good opportunity for the promotion of beach handball in Tunisia and Africa, as well as for promoting Tunisian tourism. It was also a good opportunity to renew the partnership links between the different federations and a good test for Tunisia ahead of hosting events later this year, including the 2023 African Beach Games.”

France and Sweden will now look towards the 2023 Men’s Beach Handball European Championships in Nazaré on the Atlantic coast in Portugal in May, while Tunisia continue their preparations for the ANOCA African Beach Games, also in Hammamet, in June.  

In addition to the tournament this past weekend, Borgi, along with the rest of the CAHB Beach Handball Working Group, have had a busy start to 2023 with their ongoing online ‘Beach Handball Training’ series for coaches, referees, delegates and managers. These sessions have seen a large number of participants from the majority of African federations.

The series forms part of the working group's work in promoting beach handball throughout the continent, which also includes face-to-face training and assistance with logistics and materials in addition to the online work.

Ranking
1 France (1)
2 Tunisia
3 Sweden
4 France (2)

Photo: Walid Ayari/Adel Chanoufi