The third matchday of the 2018 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in Kazan, Russia saw five teams confirm their quarter-final places. 

2018 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship
Matchday 3: Main Round and Consolation Round – Day 1

- Hosts Russia grab a quarter-final spot with two wins
- Brazil, Norway, Spain and Poland also march on to the last eight
- Newcomers Vietnam take Brazil to shootout but lose
- Paraguay put an end to Poland’s perfect record with shootout win
- Consolation Round sees France and Australia take command with two victories each

Main Round: Group 1
Spain and Poland confirmed their quarter-final spots on the first day of the women’s main round at Kazan 2018, having taken enough points from both of their games to make the last eight.

Having taken four points into the main round, it would have taken an impressive series of results for them not to qualify, but they started off in the worst possible way, losing their first match in Russia, to debutants Paraguay, who grabbed a 6:5 shootout win eventually after Poland had dominated the first period (17:9). The South Americans had fought back in the second period to win by four (12:8).

Spain sealed their spot almost immediately with two seven-goal set wins against Uruguay, while Greece all but confirmed their place too in the knockout stages with a dominant 2:0 win against Chinese Taipei in the other early morning match.

The afternoon session saw Poland back to winning ways against Greece (2:0), while Spain continued their dominance, moving up to eight points with a win against Taipei.

There was drama between the South American teams in the sixth and final game of group 1 in the main round when Uruguay beat Paraguay 7:6 in the shootout.

All these results mean that Paraguay, Uruguay and Chinese Taipei sit on two points each and Greece, four. With two places left in the group to qualify through, the heat will be on in Kazan tomorrow in the second and final day of the main round.

Main Round: Group 1

Results
ESP vs URU 2:0 (14:7) (18:11)
GRE vs TPE 2:0 (22:14) (20:10)
PAR vs POL 2:1 (9:17) (12:8) [6:5 SO]
GRE vs POL 0:2 (18:20) (10:16)
ESP vs TPE 2:0 (26:18) (21:11)
PAR vs URU 1:2 (6:16) (19:18) [6:7 SO]

Main Round: Group 2
Brazil may have ended the day on eight points, qualifying through to the quarter-finals and maintaining their winning run, now five straight victories, but their day started with a frantic 6:4 shootout win over debutants Vietnam in a performance which their coach Marcio Magliano said was not in the “Brazilian way”. Their emphatic 2:0 victory over Denmark in their afternoon game restored some order though.

Denmark had a bad day at the office losing their other game, against Russia, 2:0 as the hosts made it a pair of Scandinavian scalps, beating bronze medallists from Budapest 2016, Norway, 2:0 to confirm their quarter-final place with six points.

The Norwegians had qualified earlier after beating Thailand 2:0 as the Asian side then went on to lose their continental derby, against, Vietnam, 2:0. That result meant that Thailand have zero points and with Brazil, Russia and Norway already in the quarter-finals, it will be one from Denmark, Vietnam or Thailand to progress through to the quarter-finals come the end of the second main round day tomorrow.

Main Round: Group 2

Results
BRA vs VIE 2:1 (12:10) (18:19) [6:4 SO]
RUS vs DEN 2:0 (20:18) (11:10)
THA vs NOR 0:2 (11:18) (10:16)
BRA vs DEN 2:0 (22:12) (18:16)
THA vs VIE 0:2 (14:19) (15:20)
RUS vs NOR 2:0 (12:8) (14:12)

Consolation Round (13-16 Placement)
France ended the day with two 2:0 wins from two matches, against Mexico and USA, to go into the second day of the consolation round for their match against Australia looking to make it three out of three.

The USA had a disappointing day as they were heavily beaten not only against France – where they could only score just three points in the first period – but Australia too. The Aussies then had a monster shootout (18:16) win over Mexico, to spark wild celebrations as they made it two victories from two today at Kazan 2018.

Consolation Round

Results
AUS vs USA 2:0 (22:12) (14:9)
FRA vs MEX 2:0 (18:16) (12:10)
USA vs FRA 0:2 (3:12) (8:20)
MEX vs AUS 1:2 (19:16) (12:16) [16:18 SO]