The final match day ended with a Carnival on the beach of Recife after a thrilling men’s final match in a full stadium. European Champion Croatia won the first half with a special tactical decision. Croatia offered the Brazilian matchmaker the shots. But in the second halftime the favorites found to their shape and won this period. So the thrilling shootouts had to decide this tournament. This was the time for the Brazilian “goalkeeper” Diogo Vieira who is in his real life on the beach an offensive player. But with his height of 207 cm (81.5 inches) he surprised the Croatian shooter and saved three shots. This was the decision and led the Brazilians to their forth title (after 2006, 2010 and 2012). The team from the Sugar Loaf Mountain is king of the World of Men’s Beach Handball.

In the women’s final, which had taken place just previously to the men’s final, the Brazilian team defeated its title from Oman 2012 with a clear 2:0-victory against Denmark. Both periods followed the same structure: Brazil started well. Hungary fought back but in the last minutes before the end the host acted more concentrated. It was the third title and the fifth medal for the dominant Pan-Americans. Norway won the bronze medal match in the women’s competition after shootout. The first match of the day started too early for the girls from the Ukraine. The team slept through the first period. After the break the team woke up and won the second half. But Norway was the happier team at the end.

The boys from Qatar “rocked” the Center Court after a thrilling shootout and won the first medal ever at a World Championship for its country. The Danish team fought on eye level but finally the winner from the Persian Gulf acted with a little bit more luck. Handball is on its way in this country. Qatar won the Indoor Asia Games this year, now the beach team reached the bronze medal and in January next year Qatar will invite the Handball World to the indoor World Championships.  But the historic moment was with the beach boys – it was the first medal ever at Beach Handball Championships for a country from Asia. And for the first time ever teams from three continents won medals at the Beach Handball Championships.  

 

Final rankings

Men’s competition

Gold                 Brazil

Silver               Croatia

Bronze             Qatar

4^th                    Denmark         

5^th                    Spain

6^th                    Serbia

7^th                    Russia

8^th                    Egypt

9^th                    Uruguay

10^th                  Argentina

11^th                  Australia

12^th                  Oman   

 

Women’s competition

Gold                 Brazil

Silver               Hungary

Bronze             Norway

4^th                    Ukraine

5^th                    Spain

6^th                    Italy

7^th                    Denmark

8^th                    Uruguay

9^th                    Thailand

10^th                  Chinese Taipei

11^th                  Argentina

12^th                  Australia

 

 

Top scorer

Men’s competition

Juan A. Vasquez Diz (Spain)

 Women’s competition

Cathrine Oed Korvald (Norway)