Coach: Janos Groz

 

Key Players: Kitti Groz (Left Wing), Fruzsina Kretz (Pivot), Agnes Gyori (Goalkeeper)

 

Road to Qualification: Hosts

 

History in Tournament: 2004: 5th, 2006: 7th, 2008: DNQ, 2010: 7th, 2012: 4th, 2014: 2nd

 

Overview

Unlike the men’s team, who have not appeared at an IHF Beach Handball World Championship for six years, the women’s team have, and finished the last edition in Recife, Brazil, back in 2014 with a silver medal after losing 2-0 to the hosts in the final.

 

They went one medal better in 2015, winning the EHF Women’s Beach Handball European Championship in Spain after beating Norway 2-1 in the final.

 

Erdi VSE player Bozsana Fekete scored 16 goals in that final, and Head Coach Janos Groz has also named her, along with the entire European championship-winning squad, in the provisional Hungarian squad for Budapest 2016.

 

Groz, who oversaw the Hungarian women for both those world and European finals, is also club coach for women’s side Szentendre in the Hungarian second division.

 

The 45-year-old has overseen the Hungarian women’s beach handball teams at numerous levels and competitions including a silver medal at the 2013 World Games, six junior European championships and two senior European championships – with the 2013 edition to add to the one gained last year.

 

One of his sides’ key players is very familiar to him – his daughter Kitti. The 22-year-old left wing for Vac, made her international bow at the tender age of just 14 when she won gold on home soil at the first-ever EHF Women’s Beach Handball European Championship 18 in 2008, scoring 13 points in the 2-0 final win over Turkey, and taking home the top scorer and ‘Most Valuable Player’ awards.

 

Along with Kitti, pivot Fruzsina Kretz and goalkeeper Agnes Gyori are integral players for the Hungarians, with Coach Groz, unsurprisingly, naming 11 Szentendre players in his provisional squad which selected Group A as their preliminary group due to their right as hosts. The group also features Italy, Spain, Thailand, Argentina and Australia.

 

“As defending European champions and silver medallists at the last World Championships and World Games we want to win the world championship,” said Coach Groz ahead of the preparation period for his side.

 

“We wanted to avoid Norway in the preliminary round, so we chose Group A,” he continued. “We are very dedicated and are working hard before the championship – our main goal is to qualify for the World Games, but we would like to win the tournament because we know very well that it would have a huge influence for beach handball in Hungary.”

 

Group at Budapest 2016

Group A: Hungary, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Argentina, Australia

 

Group Games at Budapest 2016

All times local

 

Tuesday 12 July:          HUN-THA (11:40)

Tuesday 12 July:          ARG-HUN (19:40)

Wednesday 13 July:     HUN-AUS (11:40)

Wednesday 13 July:     ESP-HUN (19:00)

Thursday 14 July:         HUN-ITA (11:40)

 

Fixture link here

 

Official Website/Social Media

You can follow the IHF World Beach Handball Championships from Hungary via the official IHF channels at IHF.info, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+.

 

Watch live streams for free and keep up-to-date with all the results on the official tournament website.

 

For the Hungarian team:

 

Official Federation website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube