2018 beach handball world championships: participants for playoffs to be determined on day 3
On Day 3 of the Beach Handball World Championships in Kazan, the losers of the group round competed for places 9-16, the other teams met in the main round of the tournament. By ending the first day of the next round, 9 sides advanced to the playoffs, and 12 teams take aim at 7 more berths in the playoff stage.
The participants of the consolation round started the competition day, the men’s team of Australia beating Argentina and the women’s team of Australia leaving no chance for the Americans to win the match. The men’s team USA clinched their first win of the competitions. They confidently outperformed New Zealand. Also, the French ladies savoured their first victory in the World Championships. They kept the audience intrigued till the very end of the game against Mexico, getting two points more in each of the periods. In the second half of the day, the men’s squads of Australia and the USA came off with flying colours in the battles against New Zealand and Argentina respectively. The French women’s powerhouse celebrated the second win in the Championships by defeating the Americans in two periods. The Australian women’s team gained the upper hand over Team Mexico in the tough competition. This was the second win for the representatives of Australia, as well.
The main round of the tournament was just a new wave for the struggle to rise. 8 out of 12 teams will qualify for the playoffs of the World Championships. The Russian national side demonstrated their character and will to win in the morning session of Day 3. The men’s squad lost the first half to the Danes, but won the second period for the shootout to decide the battle, which made Anton Zabolotskiy a hero. The Russian goalkeeper’s three saves enabled the hosts to come out victorious in the match. The Denmark women’s side would have taken out on the Russian opponents for their male teammates’ loss. There was no chance – the Russians made up for the missed goals in the first period and won with a two-point lead, the hosts edged a win by only one point in the second set. In the concurrent matches the Brazilians got the better over Team Qatar, the Swedes beat Oman in two halves. The women’s teams of Greece and Spain defeated Chinese Taipei and Uruguay respectively, while the Norwegian women’s powerhouse smashed the rivals from Thailand. Surprisingly, the women’s team from Paraguay were stronger than Team Poland in the shootout. Unexpectedly, Vietnam challenged the Brazil women’s side, whose class and good luck saved the day. As for the men’s squads, the winners of their groups Croatia and Spain seemed to feel relaxed, facing Vietnam and Iran respectively, thus continuing their winning streak. The support of their compatriot, Serdar Azmoun, was not a big help for the Iran team – the star of the Kazan ‘Rubin’ football club comes to see the Beach Handball World Championships matches everyday. In Hungary vs Uruguay match the European team lost the first period, then evened the score, after that won in the shootout with a one-point lead. The Croats and the Spaniards almost ignored their opponents during this tournament. In the evening session the handball players from the Balkans confidently beat the Swedes, while the representatives of the Iberian Peninsula took care of Uruguay. In the men’s competition, Team Iran was able to bounce back after the morning session bad luck, so that they came up against Vietnam quite decently and added two more points to the tally. The women’s team from Spain is certainly eager to defend their world title and so far has had nothing to worry about. In each of the periods of the match against Chinese Taipei the Spanish enjoyed a big advantage. The game Greece vs Poland went dramatic – the first set was a fair contest, but the golden goal rule brought a victory to the Polish women’s side. In the second period the sad Greek players failed largely – minus six points before the final buzzer. Moreover, the Polish girls have already definitely got to top 10 of the tournament ranking for the first time in the last years. The Swedish men’s powerhouse is a breakthrough – they have not just advanced to the main round, but topped one of the groups in the inaugural World Championships in their history. The Swedes whitewashed Team Denmark and cruised to the playoffs. No doubt, this is the major news for the Kazan World Championships. Also, the four-time world champions from Brazil beat Team Oman in two periods, and the women’s teams from Vietnam and Brazil defeated Thailand and Denmark respectively. Both teams of Russia wrapped up the competition day of the main round. The women’s side snatched a victory against the defending European champions, Team Norway. Earlier, the Russian head coach Vitaliy Volynchenko told the journalists about the team’s desire to take out on Norway for the quarterfinal of the previous European Championships. So the Russians kept their word. The Russia men’s team made the audience feel nervous, when they lost the first period to Qatar, but bounced back in the second one. The opponents went head to head in the shootout for quite some time, until Evgeniy Svestula stopped the Qatar player’s shot. The hosts required one goal to net in order to win. One of the team leaders Igor Neklyudov made a shot and contributed to the win. This success helped Team Russia to qualify for the playoffs, while Qatar is about to be knocked out. Alongside the men’s team Russia, Croatia, Spain and Sweden proceeded to the playoff stage. In the women’s competition, Spain, Poland, Brazil, Norway and Russia continue to vie for the trophy.