A day of decisive matches took place in Sarmiento Park today with the top four teams in both the men's and women's competitions known, and the 5-12 places decided.

IHF.info brings you all the quotes from the day.

Daniel ZEBALLOS (ARG) – Argentina men's coach:

On he feels directly coming off of court following his team beating Hungary 2:0 to confirm their semi-final place:

My heart rate is 220bpm or 300bpm, but my mind is clear because I am the coach of an elite team I don’t consider myself an elite coach, but I am a coach of a professional team here.

On what his team can achieve on home sand:

We have been training for more than 10 months and remain focussed, we said we had to play 10 finals [before the tournament] and the first match of tomorrow is going to be the ninth final so for us there is going to be no difference.

On how he balances the players enjoying a home Olympic Games with concentrating on their matches:

It’s sometimes difficult, we knew that as an Olympic Games we were going to have a lot of interest from the media and also the people surrounding [the players] – the families, the girlfriends and everyone.

For three months, the players themselves have talked about and they themselves decided that they were only going to use their mobile phones from 7-10pm to talk to their families and friends and everything - even when they are teenagers they have a professional mind.

Ivan PALAC (CRO) - left wing:

On watching Argentina vs Hungary from the spectator seats, knowing if Argentina won
Croatia would qualify for the semi-finals, if Hungary won, Croatia would be out:

It was really stressful – of course, we cheered for Argentina because if they won we would qualify for the semi-finals. But Hungary are a very good team. It was a hard game and my heart was pumping fast. I put my hands on my face and I couldn’t watch when it went to the golden goal.

On facing Spain in the semi-finals:

We’ve got a second chance and it’s the right time to grab it, it is time. They are world champions, a really, really good team, they are dominating beach handball for years but maybe their reign is over.

On playing for a medal:

I never thought I would be in an Olympic games, I started playing last year and now I am in the Olympic semi-finals, it’s an amazing feeling to play for a medal.