The seventh edition of The World Games to feature beach handball got underway in light rain on the shores of Xinglong Lake in south-eastern Chengdu, China on Thursday (7 August) with eight games – four men’s and four women’s – played in the morning and early afternoon session.

Half the games went to shoot-out with The World Games title-holders from 2022 Germany women winning and Croatia men losing.

To follow beach handball at The World Games, click HERE.

Germany women open strong, China upset Europeans with strong showing
It was a happy 25th birthday celebration for Germany’s Lucie-Marie Kretschzmar as she led a strong defensive performance from her side to beat recently-crowned European champions Spain 2-0 (19:14, 19:18). 

Isabel Kattner recorded 14 points for the reigning The World Games and World Championship champions to finish as top-scorer in a game which saw Emma Pilz – who celebrated her 16th birthday last month, appear in her first-ever tournament, ending with 10 points.

“It’s more than that,” said Germany goalkeeper Nele Kurzke when asked by ihf.info if it was the defence which won the game for her side today. “We can block every ball but if they don’t score a goal in offence then we won’t win. It was the whole team that won this match today. The second set showed that we cannot relax with only one minute to go.”

Earlier in the morning session, host nation China impressed, coming from behind to beat Croatia 2-1 (13:20, 16:14, SO 8:6) via shoot-out. Kristina Smiljanic and Lucia Lesac both missed shots for Croatia, with Rong Xianyan’s fourth round strike proving to be the winner.

China’s Yi Pan, who played at the 2025 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in July in Tunisia scored 10 points in the game, with Jiaye Pang top-scoring on 11.

“We are very happy and excited because a lot of our players are young and played in the 2025 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship,” said China coach Shang Xi to ihf.info about the victory. “It is very important for us to win the first game, we are young blood and it is important to build up to win the next games.

Gisella Bonomi’s single point strike at the end of the first set put Argentina on the path to a possible third, consecutive medal (2017 – silver, 2022 – bronze) as her nine points in total helped the South Americans to a 2-0 (16:15, 13:10) win over debutants Portugal.

“For us, we are valuing one-point goals more. It is really intelligent to know when to use them and in this first set we could do that and score them in the right time,” said Bonomi to ihf.info. “Single points allow you to continue flowing with scoring, if you have a period without scoring you need to score to get out of that moment.

“We didn’t realise we were up by this much,” added Bonomi about her side’s 10:0 lead in the second set. “We really trust our defence, but we only get there with hard work.”

Asian champions Vietnam were unlucky not to take the ANOC World Beach Games title-holders Denmark to a shoot-out, losing their second set lead with under 10 seconds left, going down 2-0 (18:16, 18:17). For both teams, Chengdu 2025 is their debut The World Games appearance.

“We have maybe only six players from the European championships so we must use these matches to play together and see what is happening,” said Denmark coach Morten Holmen to ihf.info. “We only have to win by one point in each half and that was enough today. We missed too many shots overall but it was a good game and we won 2-0 which was important for us.”

Title-holders and world champions Croatia downed by European champions Germany

Germany, appearing in The World Games for the first time since Duisburg 2005, asserted continental authority over Croatia taking a 10:6 shoot-out win against the current World and The World Games champions. 

Their 2-1 (22:10, 20:27, SO 10:6) victory was in-part thanks to a strong first set defence which restricted the Croatians to just 10 points and then two failed shots in the shoot-out from Croatia, with captain Ivan Juric called for a technical fault and Ivan Rukljac missing.

“The feeling is great, first game won. First set we do a really good defence, second set we did not have so much defence against the world champ winners but the shoot-out we had a nice goalkeeper and had perfect shots,” said Germany’s Tobias Zeyen to ihf.info. “We have some hours now and we can enjoy the opening ceremony tonight. Tomorrow we will be completely focused on our next game and locked in.”

“Winning the first match is also very important,” added Germany coach Marten Franke to ihf.info. “It is never easy against anybody, especially against Croatia and we are very happy with the shoot-out because we made five out of five.” 

39-year-old Brazilian Bruno Oliveira showed his calmness under pressure once again, his single point in the second round of the shoot-out seeing off European side and world championship bronze medallists Portugal for a 2-1 (18:16, 12:14, SO 13:12) win. Despite Marcelo Tuller missing the very first shot from the South Americans, they kept calm, Diogo Ferreria missing twice for the Portuguese.

“I feel blessed because I asked God to give me the opportunity to score the last goal and it was,” said Oliveira to ihf.info. “I am so tired because Portugal make it so difficult for us. They studied our team a lot and their defence did a good job. The weather is perfect because yesterday the temperature because of the rain it is good, still hot, but it was good.”

A fiery clash between Denmark and Spain saw the Spanish side win via shoot-out 9:8. Spain had taken the first set 17:14, but the Danes came back strongly in the second (28:14) to push it into shots.

And after Christian Neilsen missed the Danish first shot, and all other shots were fulfilled, it was left to Pablo Martin Ruiz to sink home the single point. Martin Andersen and Christian Nielsen both recorded 20 points each in the game for Denmark, while Mario Miranda Sirvent finished top-scorer for Spain, on 14 points.

“We are playing solid like years ago. It was a top game; we won and our first day is a happy day,” said Spain’s captain Adria Ortola to ihf.info.

“We are so focused on this competition; we are all motivated for it and we take it step-by-step. We are so excited about the opening ceremony tonight,” he added. “I said to everyone to enjoy this moment, it could be the only time in their career or one of many times in their career. It is pretty cool, pretty awesome. We have to enjoy and celebrate everything.”

In front of another atmospheric, packed central court in humid conditions on Xinglong Lake, China’s men could not push Tunisia to a shoot-out. After losing the first set 16:14 and 13:12 behind with a time-out and three seconds left in the second, after Mohamed Aziz Haffar’s single point, China could not get the ball in the African net quick enough, the end of game horn sounding before their shot crossed the goal line.

Both the men’s and women’s competitions continue on Friday 8 August, with eight games taking place across an afternoon/early evening session.

To watch the games live or follow beach handball at The World Games, click HERE.

The World Games Chengdu 2025 – Beach Handball: Day 1 Results

Thursday 7 August 

Preliminary Group

Women’s Competition
CHN vs CRO 2-1 (13:20, 16:14, SO 8:6)
ARG vs POR 2-0 (16:15, 13:10)
GER vs ESP 2-0 (19:14, 19:18)
DEN vs VIE 2-0 (18:16, 18:17)

Men’s Competition
CRO vs GER 1-2 (10:22, 27:20, SO 6:10)
POR vs BRA 1-2 (16:18, 14:12, SO 12:13)
CHN vs TUN 0-2 (14:16, 12:13)
DEN vs ESP 1-2 (14:17, 28:14, SO 8:9)