The 2018 IHF Men's and Women's Beach Handball World Championship is into its second day in Kazan, Russia and we speak to the players and coaches involved throughout the 16 games today.

Match previews: Men and Women

Day 2: Quotes of the Day - Wednesday 25 July

Kristina KOZHOKAR (RUS) on beating the USA to qualify for the main round:

"I feel happiness. I’m very happy to have won and we’re in the main round. To tell the truth we are always a bit worried before going on the sand but when you get on the sand all your worries go away and you just keep going. It’s very important for us to take the two points into the main round as they all add up and hopefully we will be able to get first or second place.

Van BINH LE (VIE) on Vietnam winning their first match and qualifying to the main round:

“It’s the first time that Vietnam have participated at a beach handball world championship and it’s a lot of fun to be here. I’m really so happy, it feels ‘wow’ to represent Vietnam - I can feel it in my heart.

“I want to thank the people of Russia who have really been so kind to us, especially the ones involved in the tournament who have made it such a success.

“We are delighted after winning our first match. We have many reasons to be glad and advancing to the main round is a top thing.”

Kristina KOZHOKAR (RUS) on the support from Russian men's team in Kazan:

"We meet the guys at the hotel and here on the sand and, if we can, we always cheer and support each other."

Azan AL AZAN (OMA) on saving a decisive penalty against Qatar to set up an Omani shootout win: 

“Before I made the save I wanted to go in the goal, so I asked Hussain Al Jabri (Oman’s other goalkeeper) if I could go in goal as I felt I could make this save. He trusted me to go into goal to make the save and after the save I felt like I had done something really big for the team.

"I have been watching the Qatar players a lot; how they’ve been shooting, and I knew that when Hamdi Ayed goes down to shoot he shoots up, so I felt confident I could save it."

Coach Hamood AL HASANI (OMA) on what he thought about the performance of his team:
 
“Against Qatar I saw my players play very well individually, and as a team. I am very pleased, and they have great confidence, of course we lost a match against Denmark, but we look forward to winning some more matches here."

Coach Vitaly VOLYNCHENKO (RUS) on his team playing at home:

"I am worried about  the pressure, because I can see the girls are still worried. It is not only the world championship itself, but the world championship in Russia. They see a lot of supporters and fans here and are maybe ‘twice’ more worried than usual.

"I would like to change to develop our psychological training because they are not always stable, and I have seen that over the first two matches, but we will work on it. "

Please credit IHF.info if using the quotes.