Strong opening for Hungary and Netherlands

After the first day of matches at the YAC 17 Beach Handball EURO 2019, the Netherlands and Hungary have perfect records in both the men’s and women’s competitions. 

The men’s competition will continue with the final preliminary matches on Friday, while the women’s tournament will enter the main round. 

At least the main court matches will be streamed live on ehfTV.com and live scores can be followed on the dedicated beach handball ticker.

Men’s competition

Alongside the Netherlands and Hungary, Ukraine and Croatia are also undefeated in the men’s competition. All four sides top their groups with four points from two wins. 

Ukraine recorded victories over Poland and Bulgaria to earn their place on top of Group A, while Poland and Bulgaria each count two points from one win. Switzerland sit in fourth with zero points after two losses. 

In Group B, the Netherlands beat both Lithuania and Germany, while Portugal and Germany each took one win to sit on two points. Lithuania were defeated in both their matches and therefore rank fourth ahead of day two. 

Hungary opened with a victory over Spain then defeated Slovakia in Group C. France and Spain recorded one win apiece and thereby rank behind Hungary, with two points each, while Slovakia are fourth on zero. 

Croatia are alone on top of Group D following two wins, over Romania and Russia, who each count zero points in the group with three teams rather than four. 

Women’s competition

Hungary, Lithuania, Germany, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain are through to the main round thanks to their results on Thursday. The eight teams finished in the first two positions in their groups to secure their places in the next stage, which begins on Friday and concludes on Saturday. 

Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain were all undefeated and thereby earned first place in their groups with the maximum points. In Group A, Poland lost only to Hungary and took wins over Croatia and Slovakia, which was enough to secure their spot in second. 

After losing their match to the Netherlands in Group B, which had three teams rather than four, Lithuania won the decisive game versus Ukraine to claim the second main round ticket. 

In Group C, Russia also lost their opening match, to group winners Germany, before taking two victories over Switzerland and France that qualified them for the main round. 

The other group with three teams, Group D, saw Portugal reach the main round thanks to their important win versus Romania, who finished at the bottom of the table.