The first session of the fourth match day saw the Main Round and Consolation Round of the 2016 IHF Beach Handball World Championships start.

Men’s Competition
 

Main Round
Hungary provided the home fans in attendance and those watching live on Hungarian TV with a tense ending, eventually beating the Brazilians 7:6 on a shootout to win the game 2-1.

Narrowly losing the first period 22:18, the Hungarians were on a mission to show their quality and came back strong in the second period, winning 22:12 to beat the Brazilians who had the influential Gil Perez disqualified.

They missed just one shot in the shootout and put themselves in pole position should they beat Ukraine ahead of facing the tough test against Qatar who are beginning to look like the favourites for the 2016 title.

The Asian side eased to victory against Spain in their match 2-0, while in the final men’s main round match of the morning Croatia finally won without penalties – an impressive 2-0 victory scoring 56 points and putting an end to the recent run of form by Ukraine.

Consolation Round
It is never easy to start a match after disappointment the previous day but for Uruguay, Oman and Australia they did not let that affect their performances. Uruguay won 9:8 in their shootout against Bahrain, while Oman beat USA 8:6 by penalties on the main court despite having Mehdi Salim Al-Suleimani disqualified earlier.

Australia won in regulation time 2-0 against Egypt with Nicolas Gallaugher top-scoring on nine points and an impressive last minute defensive stand in the second period, which they won 15:14.

Women’s Competition
For full results click HERE

Main Round
The main round threw-off with business as usual for Brazil as they beat Italy 2-0, although the second period they scraped through 16:15. Norway disappointed the home fans in a penalty shootout victory over Hungary 5:2, but the Norwegians will be concerned they could only score six points in the first period.

Hungary can take comfort in the 19 points scored by Kitti Groz, the daughter of coach Janos Groz.

Spain beat Chinese Taipei after a first period in which the Asian side nearly stole it at the end but lost 22:21 and had Yu-Fen Wang disqualified.

Consolation Round
The inconsistent form of Poland continued as they lost a shootout against the well-supported Thais, 8:6. The Australian women stepped up against as they beat Uruguay 2-0 in a relatively low-scoring match while Argentina beat Tunisia 2-0.

The African side, in their first-ever world championship lost by just one strike in both periods and could have won at least the first period had they not hit the post with 13 seconds left. Another win is surely due for the side to add to their scalp of Uruguay.

Photo: HHF/Aniko Kovacs