08.10.2021, 08:00
Day 2 of EHF Champions Cup sees sparks fly

REVIEW: The women's reigning champions take a loss and gritty performances pay off as some quarter-final spots go down to set-win differences

27 of Europe's top club teams in beach handball returned to the sand in Sicily on day 2 of the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup. And there was no lack of drama in the women's competition with the reigning champions GEA AM Team Almeria picking up their first loss of the tournament. While the men went right down to the wire as teams fought tooth-and-nail for those quarter-final spots.

Tigers, HIR-SAT & Plock king of their groups

In group A of the men’s competition, Portuguese side Escola de Formação de Espinho - Os Tigres keep their clean sweep of the group after their final match of the day coming to an electric conclusion with a 11:10 shootout win over German side, Beachmopeten.

2016 champions, CBMP Ciudad de Malaga, were hot their tails after narrowly losing to the Tigers in a shootout; it was the Spanish side’s only loss of the tournament so far. Jorge Rivero will be delighted with his showing for Malaga thus far having netting 58 points bringing him to second position in the top scorers' ranking. Beachmopeten’s gritty efforts were in the end rewarded as they picked up a quarter-final spot as one of two best third-ranked sides.

HIR-SAT BHC cemented their place at the top of group B in day 2 after two dominant performances beating Odese Region (25:20, 27:16) and Dutch side HVC (26:14, 17:14). Their marksman Adam Fekete netted 63 points so far making him top scorer after day 2 of the event. V. Gaw from Portugal squeezed into the quarter-finals from group B after their two wins.

Polish BHT Petra Plock were kings of group C winning all their games, but they were pushed hard by second-ranked BHC Sand Devils (26:20, 16:21, 6:8). As one of the best ranked third place teams, Cincomaisum A.C. from Portugal snatched that final quarter-final spot due to their 5:4 set-win ratio.

Men's quarter-final parings:

E.F.E. Os Tigres vs Cincomaisum A.C. 

HIR-SAT BHC vs Beachmopeten (GER)

BHT Petra Płock vs CBMP Ciudad de Malaga 

V. Gaw vs BHC Sand Devils

Reigning champs suffer first loss

The women's title-holders, GEA AM Team Almeria from Spain suffered their first loss of the tournament at the hands of Danish side Hadsten Beach Handball (14:23, 20:19, 8:9). But the reigning champions held onto top spot. In terms of points, group A was tied at the top with the best three teams all having 8 points and only one loss to their name. We saw a beautiful round-robin GEA AM Team Almeria, GRD Leça - Love Tiles (2nd) and Hadsten Beach Handball (3rd) handing each other their single losses of the tournament so far. With the top four teams progressing in the women's competition, Strandepitok Girls BHT from Hungary took the final spot in the knock-out round after their two wins.

Group B was a little more straight-forward with LV Sport Multichem Szentendrei NKE completing their clean sweep with five wins from as many games. The two-time winners will now face some familiar faces in the quarter-final when they come up against Hungary’s Strandepitok Girls BHT.

Minga Turtles of Germany were on fire in attack having netted the most point out of any other team with the massive total of 225 after two days. But the German side face a tough nut in the impressive Danish outfit Hadsten Beach Handball in the knock-out rounds.

Women's quarter-final parings:

GRD Leça - Love Tiles vs E.F.E. Os Tigres  

LV Sport - Multichem Szentendrei NKE vs Strandepitok Girls BHT 

GEA AM Team Almeria vs Beach Unicorns

Minga Turtles vs Hadsten Beach Handball

How to follow the action

The extensive coverage of the competition continues on eurohandball.com and on the Home of Handball social media channels with photographs and video content such as the top 5 plays of each day and highlights of the men's and women's finals.  

Sunday’s medal matches will be accompanied by a live show on Twitch with EHFTV commentator Chris O’Reilly and Beach EURO 2019 gold medallist, Ditte Vind, guiding you through the afternoon’s decisive matches.

TEXT: Brian Campion