NEWS REPORT: One month after the Beach Handball EURO 2017 in Zagreb, Croatia and Spain also reached the podium at the World Games 2017 in Wroclaw
Croatia claim silver, Spain win beach handball bronze at World Games 2017
Croatia and Spain have proven once again that they belong to the world’s best beach handball teams.
One month after both squads won bronze at the Beach Handball EURO 2017 in Zagreb, they reached the podium again on Saturday, with Croatia’s men claiming silver and Spain’s women adding another bronze to their list of achievements at the World Games 2017 in Wroclaw.
Gold in the men’s and the women’s event went to Brazil.
In the match for third place, Spain, the current world champions, successfully took revenge for the EURO semi-final loss they conceded against eventual European champions Norway.
In Wroclaw on Saturday afternoon, Spain had the upper hand, beating Norway 2:1 (13:10, 11:13, 6:2) to claim their second bronze in just one month.
In the men’s event, Croatia could not beat Brazil for the second time in a row in a final. They had done so successfully in 2016 in the final of the World Championship, but this time it was Brazil who prevailed.
Croatia dominated the first set, winning 28:22, but Brazil bounced back to claim the second, 24:18 – and they also showed the stronger nerves in the shoot-out, winning 9:8 and the overall match.
In the men’s match for third place, Hungary lost 2:1 to Qatar and exited the World Games empty-handed.
Following their loss to Croatia in the match for third place at the Beach Handball EURO 2017, it was the second time in a row they finished an unfortunate fourth.
Photos: IHF / The World Games
TEXT:
EHF / ts