Men: Croatia (CRO)

Coach: Mladen PARADZIK

Key Players: Mateo BUDIC (defensive specialist/right wing), Ivan PALAC (left wing), Bruno SUDAREVIC (pivot)

Path to Buenos Aires 2018: Re-Allocation Process

 

Zagreb is a common theme in Croatian handball with their Men’s EHF Champions League team HC Zagreb, Croatian Handball Federation and SEHA League all based in the Croatian capital, and beach handball is no different with Lake Jarun one of the spiritual homes of the sport in Europe.

 

In 2017 the U17 EHF EURO Beach Handball Championships were held at the lake and it was the scene of heartbreak for the young Croatia men, who eventually finished fifth after losing on a shoot-out against Hungary in the quarter-finals.

 

They managed to go one place better at the 2018 U18 EHF EURO, held in Montenegro earlier this year, as Mateo Budic’s 88 points from seven games guided his side to fourth after they lost their semi-final against Poland (2:0) and bronze match against Spain, 2:1.

 

On their way to fourth, they beat Buenos Aires preliminary group rivals Italy in a high-scoring match which saw the first set finish 28:26 and second 29:22 and having not competed at the 2017 IHF Men’s U17 Beach Handball World Championship, their experience of non-European sides is extremely limited going into the global event in Argentina.

 

“We will meet Mauritius and Paraguay, two teams about which we don’t know much,” said Croatia coach Mladen Paradzik, the former men’s senior beach handball captain who won numerous medals with the team, finishing with silver at the 2014 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in Brazil.

 

“The Italians are always hard to play against and we won our last match against Portugal, so I think we have a small plus here as we know how they play,” continued Paradzik, who was recently appointed as men’s senior coach after being in his current role for over one-and-a-half years, following a spell as assistant.

 

“We are not going to Buenos Aires for a school trip,” he continued. “We are always aiming for medals and will do our best – I think that the last championship, the one in Montenegro, showed that we are in a good place.”

 

The entire squad of nine players named for Croatia are based in Zagreb and Budic, alongside left wing Ivan Palac and pivot Bruno Sudarevic, who finished as second top scorer at Lake Jarun with 108 points in seven matches, are the three key players to watch after they recently completed their preparation with a training camp in Ivanic-Grad, a small town outside Zagreb (26-28 September), alongside the women’s team for Argentina.

 

Earlier on in the summer they held another training camp, at Jarun, where they trained alongside both Croatian men’s and women’s senior teams.

 

Follow the Croatian Beach Handball team through Google+, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and their official website at www.bhc.com.hr.

 

Group at Buenos Aires 2018
Group B: Argentina (ARG), Portugal (POR), Italy (ITA), Paraguay (PAR), Mauritius (MRI), Croatia (CRO)

Preliminary Group B: Match Schedule
All times local

Monday 8 October

10:50    ARG vs CRO

15:20    CRO vs POR

 

Tuesday 9 October

11:40    ITA vs CRO     

16:10    CRO vs PAR

 

Wednesday 10 October

10:50    MRI vs CRO

 

Photo: Croatian Handball Federation