The second matchday of the 2018 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in Kazan, Russia sees all 16 teams play their third and final game of the preliminary round with decisions still to be made.

2018 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship
Preliminary Round – Day 2

- Russia play USA in a potential main round/consolation round decider in Group C
- Group B sees Uruguay, France and Chinese Taipei in contention to progress
- Straight shoot-out between Vietnam and Mexico in Group D to decide which first-timers go through

For the match schedules and results click HERE. All games will be streamed live HERE.

Featured Match – Group C: Russia vs USA (17:30 hrs)
Just like last night, when the two men’s teams met in this clash, the pressure is on the host nation to get the win, but unlike the men’s match if they do not claim victory, a set of circumstances could mean the Russian women crash out of their own tournament.

If Thailand beat Brazil and the USA defeat their hosts, Russia will be in the consolation round, but if Brazil win, the result in this match does not matter – but they will not want to rely on a favour from the South Americans, who play their match in parallel.

Maybe it was expected by the Russians to lose their opening match against Brazil, but they were made to work hard in their 2:0 win against the strong Thai side in their second game and that will give them confidence going into this clash, which should they qualify from, will see the momentum start to move in their direction.

Group A
Title holders Spain confirmed their first-place preliminary group finish with wins over Greece and Paraguay yesterday, but coach Daniel Lara will be concerned about the very slow start against the Greeks, who were 8:0 up in the first set at one point, but then lost in a shootout where just one goal was scored, by Spain, but they face the already-eliminated Australians later this morning.

“We were a little surprised with Spain as we thought they would do something better, but maybe they were a little stressed,” said a disappointed Greek coach Maria Karantoni to IHF.info after their opening defeat.

“We had a very good first set but in the second we were not so concentrated and made many mistakes and maybe in the shoot-out maybe we didn’t believe we could win. Normally we have at least eight points in a shootout, but the positive thing is that we won one set and if we are equal with 2-3 teams then maybe it will help us.

“We will always give our best and if we can make eighth place it will be a success for us - I hope we will surprise everyone here and not just Spain.”

Her side face fellow debutants Paraguay as they battle for second place.

Matches (all times local)
10:20 ESP-AUS
10:20 GRE-PAR

Group B
A real battle royale takes place at high noon in group B today as Uruguay, France and Chinese Taipei all compete for the final two qualification places, behind group winners Poland, who won both their matches yesterday.

Uruguay – who lost both of their matches in a shootout – and France – appearing in their first-ever beach world championship are arguably the more motivated to get the wins they need today, but Uruguay face the tough task of seeing off the strong Polish side.

Chinese Taipei will be looking to grab the win against France in what could essentially be a main round play-off.

Matches (all times local)
12:00 POL-URU
12:00 FRA-TPE

Group C
Brazil women’s team were dominant yesterday, winning both their games to confirm their ticket to the main round – but what’s new? They are one of the most successful beach teams of all time and current silver medallists in this competition. 

Thailand will hope they can get something from their clash with the South Americans to confirm their passage through but know that if hosts Russia can beat the USA then they will be safe. The Russians can still go out though if Thailand beat Brazil and the USA beat them – so the heat will be on in Kazan for the home side.

Wildcard entry USA came close to winning the second set against Thailand in their first match but a golden goal strike from the Asians killed the American dreams.

“It’s always tough coming off the court after a golden goal loss but we’re going to pick ourselves back up,” said USA player Liz Harnett.

“Our defence was the rock of our team for the whole game and every time we made a mistake in offence they made that stop to keep us close when we needed them to.

“Two years ago, I came to Budapest 2016 as a representative of our federation and I was cheering on our men’s team and now to play and be on this journey with my teammates who I practice with all the time and who I love, has just been an amazing feeling.

“To see how we’ve grown since March in the Pan-Americans to now in July we’re a whole different team and we have new players who were not on the team before due to injury, they are filling big shoes and it is so emotional us to be here – we’re going to get a win and it’s coming soon.”

Matches (all times local)
17:30 BRA-THA
17:30 RUS-USA

Group D
European sides Norway and Denmark meet to decide the group winners with both teams already safely through to the main round, while it is a straight shoot-out between Vietnam and Mexico in the other match to decide which first-timers go through to the main round.

Matches (all times local)
15:50 NOR-DEN
15:50 VIE-MEX