The opening day of the IHF Men’s U17 Beach Handball World Championship saw Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Portugal and Italy claim their first two victories. The European champions Spain and Argentina also began the competition with a win.

Group A

Chinese Taipei defeated Mauritius 2:0 (32:10 and 19:9) and Pakistan 2:1 (20:16, 22:30 and 5:4 in the shoot-out) to secure the first rank of the group. Tomorrow Pakistan will play the hosts Mauritius.

Group B

Thailand had a dream opening day in Group B. They beat Venezuela in a really exciting match 2:1 (19:16, 18:19, SO 7:6) and then claimed their second victory versus Togo 2:0 (28:15 and 24:12). Russia also won against Togo 2:0 (22:2 and 26:7) but finished with a loss in front of the Venezuelans 1:2 (17:15, 12:15 and 4:7 in the shoot-out).

The leader Thailand will meet Russia tomorrow expecting to close the preliminary round in first place, while Venezuela will take on Togo.

Group C

The European champions Spain had a bright debut as they won 2:0 (30:13 and 21:16) versus Paraguay. Argentina took the points against South Africa by the same result (24:5 and 28:7). Tomorrow the qualification for the next round will be decided as the teams still have two more matches to play.

Group D

Portugal and Italy showed their potential as they met the Oceania representatives Australia and New Zealand. Portugal beat Australia 2:0 (15:11 and 31:17) and New Zealand also in two sets (26:12 and 18:5). Italy defeated the Australians 2:0 (22:17 and 24:11) and their neighbours the New Zealanders by the same result (19:4 and 23:12).

Portugal will face Italy on the second competition day, while Australia will meet New Zealand in an important game in the run for the Oceania spot for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.