Beach handball qualification concluded at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club this morning. Many teams had already qualified for the later stages and several matches were for final seeding, but a handful of crucial matches on Court 3 decided the last quarterfinal places.
In a tough encounter first up against the Asian champions China, Poland prevailed over China 22-20, 21-13, dominating the second set after a knife-edge first, meaning Poland went through at China’s expense.
Their specialist Paula Mazurek said afterwards: “Beach handball is a very fast game. China was a tough opponent, and they play different handball from us. Their passes are very fast. Their defence is very fast compared to European teams. But we had faith, and today we are lucky.” Poland face a tough draw against Brazil in their first quarter-final match.
Source: AWBGQatar.com
The Poles, who won a silver medal at the European Beach Handball Championships in Croatia in 2017, were a late addition to the card after Norway – the current highest ranked European women – decided not to send a team.
The other crucial match of the morning was Australia v USA, a tight encounter that went to a shootout which Australia won in sudden death after five goals each, with Australia sneaking into the fourth spot in Group A. The Australian winning goal was scored by Lucas Turecek, who was exuberant in response: “We just kept powering through, the boys knew what to do. We just knew we were going to have it in the penalties. We just knew it.”
Hungary brought home the last available men’s place still in play in Group B with a win over Croatia.
Hosts Qatar continued their excellent run in the men’s, edging out Spain to make it five from five. Greece, the current women’s beach handball world champions, top Group B, also unbeaten. Denmark are the European champions in both the men’s and women’s side of the sport and their men’s team finished top of their group, again with five wins from five. The Danish women’s team had a bad start but three wins sees them sitting in third spot, behind the dominant Brazilian women unbeaten at the top of Group A.
The beach handball action continues in Doha tomorrow: the men’s and women’s teams ranked 9th to 12th go through to a places playoff on Monday morning, whereas the top eight begin quarter-final competition on Monday evening at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club. The semifinals take place on Tuesday evening, also in Al-Gharafa, with the medal matches taking place on Wednesday on Katara Beach.
More on Sports & Fitness
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.