Greek women win gold, Croatia’s men come second at Beach Handball World Championship

Greece’s women’s national beach handball team has literally risen from ‘zero to hero’ when they won gold at their debut Beach Handball World Championship in Kazan, Russia, on Sunday, beating European champions Norway in the final.

“It’s amazing, I don’t believe it yet. It’s really amazing, we don’t believe that yet. I am so excited – we were one of the biggest outsiders in this World Championships but we believed so much in us,” said Greek player Ntafina Dimitri.

In the men’s event, Brazil reclaimed the top spot they had lost to Croatia two years ago, beating Croatia in a re-match of the 2016 final.

Bronze went Hungary (2:0 against Sweden) in the men’s competition and to Brazil’s women, who beat defending champions Spain 2:0.

The top five teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions qualified for the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in San Diego.

IHF Men's Beach Handball World Championship
Final Ranking

1 - Brazil*
2 - Croatia*
3 - Hungary*
4 - Sweden*
5 - Spain*
6 – Russia
7 – Denmark
8 – Iran
9 – Qatar
10 – Oman
11 – Argentina
12 – USA
13 – Australia
14 – Vietnam
15 – Uruguay
16 - New Zealand

IHF Women's Beach Handball World Championship
Final Ranking

1 - Greece*
2 - Norway*
3 - Brazil*
4 - Spain*
5 - Denmark*
6 – Poland
7 - Russia
8 – Paraguay
9 – Vietnam
10 – Uruguay
11 – France
12 – Mexico
13 - Chinese Taipei
14 – USA
15 – Thailand
16 - Australia

Women’s All-Star Team: Kazan 2018

Goalkeeper: #12 Magdalini KEPESIDOU (Greece)
Left Wing: #6 Maren AARDAHL (Norway)
Pivot: #3 Maria Asuncion BATISTA PORTERO (Spain)
Right Wing: #5 Patricia SCHEPPA (Brazil)
Specialist: #10 Vasiliki SKARA (Greece)
Top Scorer: #12 Edna Viridiana URESTI VALENCIA (Mexico) – 123 points
Defender: #3 Elisabeth HAMMERSTAD (Norway)
Fair Play: Norway

Most Valuable Player (MVP): #7 Juliana OLIVEIRA (Brazil)

Men’s All-Star Team: Kazan 2018

Goalkeeper: #13 Mohamed ABIDI (Qatar)
Left Wing: #5 Ivan JURIC (Croatia)
Pivot: #24 Attila KUN (Hungary)
Right Wing: #9 Lucijan BURAN (Croatia)
Specialist: #1 Bruno OLIVEIRA (Brazil)
Top Scorer: #7 Martin Vilstrup ANDERSEN (Denmark) – 149 points
Defender: #2 Thiago BARCELLOS (Brazil)
Fair Play: Australia