Sixteen teams overall has started their campaign in the World Games 2013. This will be a very important and unforgettable event for the history of Beach Handball for sure. For the first time, Beach Handball is an official sport in the World Games. From 2nd to 4th of August, 13 countries from five different continents will compete to be the best in the World Games Beach Handball. Having teams from five different continents is a significant milestone for Beach Handball.  They started to play their matches in the famous bullfighting arena in Santiago de Cali, La Plaza de Toros de Cañaveralejo. Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and Uruguay from Pan-America; Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, Norway and Hungary from Europe; Australia from Oceania; Qatar and Chinese Taipei from Asia and Tunisia from Africa will show their best on the World Games 2013, in Cali.

In the men’s competition, as well as the defending World Champion and previous World Games winner Brazil, 7 teams will compete for gold: Australia, Croatia, Colombia, Qatar, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela. In the women’s competition, the defending World Champion Brazil will compete with Australia, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Hungary, Norway, Tunisia and Uruguay.

For the men’s competition in group A, Brazil, among the favorites, started the World Games with 2 wins. İn the morning session “Seleçao” has beaten Russia, another favorite of the championship and silver medal winner of the previous European Championship, with an easy 2-0 result. Brazil won the periods with 27-20 and 20-10. After the 2-0 (24-4 and 26-10) win against Australia, Brazil is leading the group with 4 points. Russia and Colombia both have 2 points after 2 matches. Brazil is not only the favorite of the group, they are also the favorites of the World Games. Since the 2001 World Games in Akita (Japan) “Seleçao” has participated in the World Games continuously. They are also one of the most successful teams. They won the gold once and the bronze once. With star players like Gulliver Wellington and Diogo Vieria, it is easy to see that Brazil is putting their best effort on the beach to win the gold for the second time in row.

The group B on men’s competition finished the day with full of surprised. Before the championship Ukraine and Croatia were clear favorites in the group. But after first day’s matches it was made obvious that in Beach Handball everything can happen. The silver medalist of the World Championship 2012 in Oman, Ukraine lost 2 matches in the first day. After their defeat against Qatar 2-1 after the shoot-out, they lost their second match in the afternoon session against Venezuela, again after a shoot-out. The top goal-scorer of the European Championship 2 weeks ago in Denmark, with an incredible 145 goals in 10 matches Oleksandr Poltorotskiy could not help his team to win both matches even though he scored a total of 34 points in the two matches. The winner of the 2013 European Beach Handball Championship in Denmark, Croatia started the World Games with a 2-0 win against Venezuela. But after the unexpected 2-0 loss against Qatar, “Igor Totic & Co.” bring their hopes to the second day.  With 4 points Qatar is leading the group. Croatia and Venezuela have 2 points each and Ukraine is in the 4th place with no points.

As one of the favorites of World Games 2013, Norway started the competition with 2 wins. İn the morning session they won against Australia with a clear 2-0 and in the afternoon they beat Chinese Taipei after shoot-out. Norway is in the 1st place of women’s group A, with 4 points. After the 2-0 win against Uruguay, Chinese Taipei lost against Norway in the shoot-out. They are in the 2nd position with 2 points. Chinese Taipei is representing Asia for the second consecutive time in the World Games. Their first target will be definitely to reach the semi-finals. They are about to realize the “tough target”. Another team with 2 points is Uruguay.

In Group B, the clear favorite Brazil won in the morning session against Hungary, the last European Champions. In the afternoon session they beat also Tunisia with a very clear 2-0 (21-6 and 19-3). With players like Patricia Scheppa and Millena Braga, Brazil is definitely one of the strongest teams of the World Games. The team won in the bronze 2001 and 2009 and in 2005 they won the gold medal at the World Games. They also twice won bronze and twice won gold in the last four World Championships. The way they are playing demonstrates that the Brazilian ladies will do their best to win their second gold in World Games Beach Handball. Another favorite of the World Games, Hungary headed to Colombia for the World Games with a mixture of young players, some first class players and beach handball veterans. The great success of this mixture was seen clearly two weeks ago at the European Championships in Randers. With the incredible performance from players like Kitti Groz, Agnes Gyori and Bozsanna Fekete, the “Valogatott” has won all 10 matches during the European Championships. After they lost their “unbeatable” title against Brazil, the Hungarian ladies won against Colombia. Tomorrow they will play against Tunisia but the chances of win by the Tunisian ladies would be considered a major upset.

The Beach Handball matches at the World Games started on the 2nd of August, with preliminary round matches in two groups for both men and women. On the afternoon of 3rd of August, the semi-finals will be played. The winners of the World Games 2013 will be decided after the final matches on 4th of August.