The climb to the winner’s circle of the 2022 IHF Beach Handball Championships just got steeper. In yesterday’s matches, even the most seasoned teams felt the sting of tough international competition. Several teams secured their tickets to the quarter-finals with stunning performances on day 3. Day 4 promises still more excitement and surprises.
The highlight of day 3 matches was a brilliant shootout between the Greek men’s team and a tough Uruguay. The match ended in a close win for the Uruguayans. Greece’s second-highest scorer Manolis Ladakis could not buy his way into the net for the second half of the match. Ladakis is having a brilliant tournament so far, but the Latin American athletes took full advantage of Greek miscues to win last night’s match. The Greeks face unbeaten powerhouse Croatia and phenomenal scorer Lucian Bura later today, to decide who wins their group.
Six teams are already through to the quarter-finals, the are Croatia, Greece, Uruguay (Group I) and Brazil, Denmark, and Norway (Group II). Argentina and Portugal are in the 9-16 placement round.
In women’s action in the 2022 IHF Beach Handball tournament on day 3, Greece and Denmark continued their winning ways accumulating four wins in four games. Germany continued, as well, and stands aloft of group Group B, with a capable Netherlands team right behind. The Greek women, obviously heavily favored to win it all, are so far looking the part of champions.
Spain, Thailand, Portugal, and the USA can all still qualify in Group I, while Norway and Argentina face each other in a play-off for the last spot in Group II for the final positions in the quarter-finals. It’s crunch time for a capable but less experienced Team USA to better their world ranking status. Portugal and the Americans play at 6 PM today. The USA’s and the tournament’s top scorer Christine Mansour (45/54 and 83%) has a chance to lead her team into history if the Americans’ defense steps up.
You can watch the live-streamed games via the IHF YouTube channel here.