Just 43 seconds into beach handball making its debut at the Olympic Games, the first-ever points were scored – by a goalkeeper.

The honour went to Netherlands’ shot-stopper Lisanne Bakker who struck home into an empty Paraguay net after both teams had their first shots of the match saved. The Dutch went on to beat the South Americans 2:0 (18:14, 14:20) in the preliminary group B match, with both teams in action again later today.

And with her strike, Lisanne Bakker’s name will go down in the history books as the first-ever player to score points in beach handball at an Olympic Games.

“I feel great, but I didn’t know it,” said Bakker to IHF.info after she was told of her achievement. “I saw their specialist wasn’t off of the court yet, and their goalkeeper was not on, so I gave it a go and just thought ‘I have to throw it in the goal’.

“I think we didn’t play our best match, but we won, and that’s what is important – we have a good feeling and we’re ready for our next match.”

In Mauritius, at the 2017 IHF Women’s U17 World Championship, the Netherlands’ lost in the final 2:1 on a shootout to Hungary and with a loud and strong support in Buenos Aires, they are aiming to upgrade from silver to gold this year – and are not distracted by playing on such a high-profile stage.

“We’re here to go one better than Mauritius, definitely,” continued Bakker, to IHF.info. “It’s very important to have our families and friends here, they sing for the whole match and give us all a lot of energy. 

“We hope to win all our games, of course, but Argentina in our group will be difficult. It’s not hard to concentrate, we have been doing it for three years – every game is just a game.”