Last October, 11 Asian teams lined up in Doha, Qatar for the Paris 2024 AHF Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament, with Japan defying all odds and securing a huge win, their maiden qualification at the Olympic Games via this path, by clinching six wins in six matches.

First, they delivered a pitch perfect performance in the preliminary round, winning against the Islamic Republic of Iran (25:20), Bahrain (27:26), Kuwait (32:30) and Kazakhstan (44:19), in close succession, with the matches against Bahrain and Kuwait being clearly close.

Tunisia men make their long-awaited debut at an IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship, coming to China as African champions, having won the African Beach Games in Hammamet on home sand in June 2023.

A solitary bronze medal in their debut appearance back in 2006 is the only reward for Spain’s eight appearances at the IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championships – and for a run of four championships (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018) they were stuck in fifth place.

Could that change at China 2024?

Judging by their final ranking at the 2023 European Championships held last year in Nazare, Portugal, the answer is no – fifth again.

With three players in the IHF Beach Handball Showcase on the fringes of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games next month – Mohsen Al Yafaei, Mohammed Zaky Hassan and Hani Kakhi – it is clear just where Qatar’s men sit on the global beach handball scene.

At IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship level their biggest success to date is a pair of bronze medals, gained in 2014 and 2016. They came close last time out, at Greece 2022, but were unlucky to come up against a super-motivated host nation in the quarter-final.

Despite being a base for club handball on the sand in Europe, thanks to the numerous events held in the coastal town of Nazare – home to some of the biggest waves in the world – Portugal’s senior national sides have not yet made waves on a continental or global level, at least in the medal tables.

The Sultanate of Oman has a long history of beach handball, appearing at the debut IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship back in 2004 and having hosted the fifth edition of the global event at the Mussanah Sports City in 2012.

At that edition, their men’s side finished eighth, but in five appearances since, a seventh-place finish at Budapest 2016 is the highest they have ranked in a world championship.

After a six-year break due to covid and not qualifying through their continental championships, Hungary return to IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship action in the best possible way – as European champions.

Last year, at the continental event in Portugal, the Hungarians saw off Germany 2-0 (20:16, 20:18) in the gold medal match to take the European title for the first time after previously winning silver and bronze.

No team at China 2024 – either men’s or women’s – have had a longer gap between their first IHF Beach Handball World Championship and second one than the German men.

Exactly 18 years ago the German men made their debut at Brazil 2006 in Rio de Janeiro, finishing eighth on the South American side. Little did they know that the focus in Germany would shift away from the sport and it would be two more decades before they returned to the global sand.

Greece 2022 represented an historic moment for Danish beach handball, with the national team winning their first-ever IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship medal.

Denmark had arrived in Heraklion as 2021 European Championship winners having beaten Croatia in the final 12 months earlier – their second, successive continental title.

However, on the Heraklion sand, Croatia got revenge, winning 0-2 and the Danish men settled for silver, to follow in the footsteps of their women’s side who also won world championship silver (in 2010 and 2012).

“It is a great honour and responsibility for us to be back at an IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship as this is Croatia's 10th participation and we have never missed one,” said Croatia coach Mladen Paradžik to ihf.info ahead of China 2024.

Croatia have medalled in six of those nine championships, most recently picking up gold at Greece 2022, which qualified them directly to China 2024. They also come to Pingtan as reigning The World Games champions from 2022.