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Day of decision awaits as main round concludes

16 Jun. 2022

Day of decision awaits as main round concludes

After three full days of action, just eight games will be played at the 2022 IHF Men’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship on Friday.

Two of them are in the consolation round, which will see the USA take on Togo first. Whomever wins will record their first win of the championship while if the Americans get a victory it will be their first-ever Youth World Championship two points. Togo already beat South Africa at Mauritius 2017

Men’s Group I has a lot of maths involved with multiple teams on four points and the final rankings to be decided.

No matter what happens between Qatar and Croatia, the Europeans, on six points, are through to the quarter-finals and whoever wins in the Sweden versus France and Iran versus Brazil matches will join the Croatians in the last eight, having amassed six points apiece. All four of those teams currently have four points in the bank.

From Qatar’s perspective, they need to win to stand any chance of qualifying themselves as they currently lie bottom, without two points.

If Qatar, Sweden and Iran win, the Qataris will be tied on four points with the French but have the head-to-head record and will take the fourth spot.

If Qatar win but France defeat Sweden, whatever happens in the Iran versus Brazil match, Qatar will go out having lost to Sweden, Iran and Brazil.

The fourth and final spot would depend on who loses and their head-to-head records against each other. It may even see the European champions crash out.

Group II is also fun for fans of calculators, with Germany playing Jordan, Spain up against Ukraine and Greece taking on Argentina.

There is a scenario where five teams finish on six points each: Ukraine beat Spain, Argentina defeat Greece and Jordan down Germany. Then it will be more mathematical fun and games but it also shows the diversity of strength in global beach handball.

What is certain is that having not won any games so far, Greece are out.

Germany can boast the top two scorers in the competition so far, with Lennart Liebeck and Lars Zelser scoring 85 and 79 points respectively.