Men: Portugal (POR)

 

Coach: Paulo FELIX

 

Key Players: Andre SOUSA (specialist) and Salvador SALVADOR (pivot)

 

Path to Buenos Aires 2018: Re-Allocation Place

 

After an impressive silver medal on home sand in the U16 Men’s EHF EURO Beach Handball Championship in Nazare, Portugal qualified through to the first-ever IHF Men’s U17 Beach Handball World Championship, held in Mauritius.

 

After losing the 2016 final against Spain 2:1 in a shoot-out at home, hopes were high from Portugal of making the podium, once more, in Africa but a 2:0 quarter-final loss against Russia put paid to any hopes, and they eventually ended up in seventh place.

 

One year later they finished one position lower at the Men’s U18 EHF EURO in Montenegro after they again lost to Russia – in their first 5-8 placement match, following a 2:1 quarter-final loss against neighbours Spain. In their 7/8 placement match they lost 2:1 against Hungary.

 

Portugal Coach Paulo Felix fell in love with beach handball back in 1995 as an athlete which eventually evolved into coaching in 2011, when he started coaching teams in the national championship.

 

Becoming national champion and participated in the EBT Finals and the Champions Cup twice, it was natural progression to becoming national team coach and in 2015 he took over both female and male national teams.

 

Ahead of some interesting preliminary group B clashes in Buenos Aires against Paraguay, Croatia, Mauritius, Italy and Argentina, Felix did not opt to undergo any friendly matches, tournaments or training camps.

 

“It’s a very strong group and we will play each game to win,” said Felix to IHF.info. “Every game is very important to qualify through to the main round and tt will be an unforgettable experience and we hope it won't be our last.

 

“We will definitely play to reach the medals in Buenos Aires.”

 

For Portuguese Handball Federation beach handball coordinator Mario Bernardes, he is keeping his feet on the ground but knows the team has the potential to achieve success.

 

“We want to get to the main round,” he said. “We will do it step-by-step and not get ahead of ourselves. We had the best preparation possible and will bring our best athletes, but after all we have achieved, anything is possible.

 

“We are very proud to represent Portugal in the first-ever Olympic Games beach handball competition.”

 

You can follow Portugal on their official channels: website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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

Preliminary Group B: Match Schedule
All times local

Monday 8 October

10:50    POR vs MRI    

15:20    CRO vs POR   

 

Tuesday 9 October

11:40    ARG vs POR   

16:10    POR vs ITA     

 

Wednesday 10 October

10:50    POR vs PAR