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Date: 7/10/2017
 

MRI 2017 (Men’s) – Group D: Portugal, Italy, Australia and New Zealand

 

Overview:

 

Portugal

The Portuguese side qualified for Mauritius 2017 as runners-up at the U16 European Championship they organised in Nazare. On that occasion, they lost the final 2:1 versus their neighbours Spain.

 

Portugal head coach Paulo Felix relies on the teams attack more than in their defence: “We can find many solutions in the offence but defensively it’s harder.”  Right wing Afonso Sequeira and line player Salvador Salvador stand out in their offensive structure.

 

Before travelling to Mauritius, Paulo Felix and his boys had a final training camp of four days which included friendly matches.

 

Italy

“For Italian handball it would be a dream. We know we are among the best three European teams and for this reason we want to play all our chances to try to reach the Youth Olympic Games,” says coach Vincenzo Malatino – who guided them to a bronze medal at the 2016 European Championship.

 

Vincenzo describes Italy as a “physically strong team and with good players. Our goalkeeper Matteo Capuzzo has been chosen as the best European goalkeeper in Nazare. And we are a very united team.” Another important player for them is left wing Max Prantner, their top scorer at the European Championship with 32 goals. However, it was a very long season for some of his players, engaged in both the indoor and beach handball, “and they may be a little tired in July”.

 

Australia

This year Australia claimed the men’s Oceania Qualification Games title after beating New Zealand 2:0 in the gold medal match. The competition, which gave the two finalists the opportunity of travelling to Mauritius for the IHF U17 Beach Handball World Championship, was hosted by the Cook Islands in the city of Rarotonga from May 2 to 5.

 

Mauritius 2017 will see one of the two Oceania nations qualify for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Coach David Hudson believes that achieving that goal “would be very important for the development of beach handball in Australia.” “While the sport has been steadily growing in Australia, having a team selected for the Youth Olympic Games would bring extra exposure to the sport at just the right time,” he explained to IHF.info.

 

Many Australia players are new to handball, although they may have had other sporting experiences. While some people could see that as a disadvantage, Hudson says that it can also be seen “as an advantage in some respect as I had a clean slate to work with when coaching beach specific strategies.”

 

New Zealand

New Zealand lost to Australia 2:0 in the gold medal match of the Oceania qualification tournament for Mauritius. The runners-up at the continental competition will now have a big chance for revenge at the IHF U17 Men’s Beach Handball World Championship, as they will meet their neighbours in Group D.

 

In preparation for the World Championship, the Oceania side have been training between three and four times a week and played several friendly games with the New Zealand men’s senior team once a month.

 

IHF Website & Social Media:

For a complete coverage of the 2017 IHF U17 Women’s Beach Handball World Championship stay tuned to our website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels.

 

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