What a fantastic show: The heroes of the V Beach Handball World Championships are goalkeepers. For instance Igor Chupina: The 22 years old Ukrainian advanced to a hero of the tournament. He unnerved the strong Russian shooter in the semifinal. Not enough: He saved three of five balls in shoot out. “It was a great moment for our team”, Chupina cheered after the match. His team has secured the first title before the game had been finished: Champion of the last seconds. The Ukraine reached the main round with a shoot out at last match of preliminary round against host Oman. The Europeans reached the semifinal with a shoot out against Egypt at last match of main round and they reached the final with a shoot out against the strong Russians. The possibility, that the boys from Europe will become World Champion is high, if they win one halftime in the final on Friday 13 July. They are unbeatable in shootouts. But the favourite for the title is from Brazil. The beach boys from the Copacabana won their semi final against Croatia with 2:0. The Croatians overslept the first five minutes at first half. Brazil took the lead with 6:0 and won the first 10 minutes. In the second half both teams acted strong. But the Brazilian goalkeeper Jaime Torres from Rio made the difference. In the last minutes the brave Croatians fought strong, but the Golden Goal after a 14:14-draw was scored by Brazil.

 

Brazil goes for Gold also in the women’s tournament. The girls from the sugarloaf beat the defending champion Norway in the semi-finals with a clear 2:0. And it was also the Brazilian goalkeeper Jerusa Diaz, who had a great evening and decided the match. For Norway it was a “Déjà vu”. The Scandinavians lost against Brazil also the match in the preliminary round with the same result.

The other team from the northern part of Europe did it better. Denmark beat Hungary with 2:0. It was a strong defence from both teams. But Denmark won in the end. So Hungary and Norway play for Bronze. Denmark and Brazil go for Gold. The favourite will be Brazil. But attention: Denmark had beaten the Pan-Americans with 2:0 in last main round match. The final match is also time for revenge or will it be a “Déjà vu” also for the Brazilians?

 

In the placement round Australia surprised in the women’s tournament. The girls from down under won the last match and reached the placement match for rank 7. Host Oman won both matches in the men’s tournament and has to fight against Qatar for the seventh rank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matches on Friday 13 July

 

Women’s tournament

 

Rank 11               Thailand - Singapore

Rank 09               China - Poland

Rank 07               Italy - Australia

Rank 05               Croatia - Uruguay

Rank 03               Norway - Hungary

Final                    Denmark - Brazil

 

 

Men’s tournament

 

Rank 11               Uruguay – Australia

Rank 09               Bahrain – IOC

Rank 07               Oman - Qatar

Rank 05               Egypt - Spain

Rank 03               Croatia - Russia

Final                    Ukraine - Brazil