Jurić: ‘The World Games title will always be special for us’

Voting is now open for ‘The World Games Team of the Year 2022’ award.

You can find the information about how to vote here.

The all-conquering Croatian men’s beach handball team are one of the candidates for the award, which is presented by the International World Games Association (IWGA) and recognises the ‘Best of the Best’ who competed at The World Games 2022, held in Birmingham, USA, last year.

The nomination is recognition for winning the 2022 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in Heraklion, Greece, in June, the 2022 IWGA World Games in Birmingham, USA, in July, and the first stage of the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour, held in Gdansk, Poland in-between.

Croatia captain Ivan Jurić has spoken to ihf.info about his pride in being nominated for the award and winning three titles, all made possible by a group effort from those on and off court together.
 
“I’m proud of my team for achieving this; it was the best summer ever,” said Jurić to ihf.info about those two months last June and July.

“It was great playing beach handball at both the club and international level for a whole two months. I spent all of my vacation days during this period, so my bosses were not so excited about it, but they were happy when we brought home three golds.”

That trio of golds had come after a long break from the global sand due to the covid pandemic, with the return to action for the Croatian team requiring not only physical but mental strength, too, according to Jurić.

“After covid, we were happy to compete against teams from other continents again,” he said. 

“Physically, we were ok since we were all in shape and training because we all play indoor handball, but mentally, of course, we were happy to play again at an IHF World Championship, but there were many questions about where we were compared to other teams, especially the non-European ones.”

Jurić and his teammates did not have to worry. They proved to be the best in all three competitions entered, and for the captain, The World Games title was the medal which meant the most.

“As an experienced player, The World Games was one of the three major titles (World, European, World Games) I – or Croatia – hadn’t won yet,” said the 36-year-old.

“I was very motivated last year to finally win this competition, and I’m glad we made it. It was my fourth The World Games personally, and fifth for Croatia in total. My team had never waited this long to finally win a gold medal in one competition, so it was, still and will always be, very special to us. 

“To be nominated for the IWGA award is the cherry on top of a great season full of gold medals and rewards. I know how much effort and sacrifices were made to get to the top of the world. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Croatian Olympic Committee, IWGA, Croatian Handball Federation, media team, teammates, other players who trained with us and our staff.”