2018 beach handball world championships: playoff line-up to be decided on day 4
The Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships are underway in the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. Competition Day 4 wrapped the main round and decided all the competing teams of the quarterfinals. Both men’s and women’s teams of Russia got to the next round. The strenuous performance of the Brazilians made the front page news, as the four-time world champions elbowed into the playoffs, gaining the third spot in the group.
Four matches in the morning session at the World Championships ended the consolation round. The men’s sides from the USA and Argentina beat the players from Australia and New Zealand respectively. In the women’s event, Team France and Team Mexico were stronger than Australia and the USA. Thus, the French made three wins in three matches of the consolation round, the Australians finishing second. In the men’s competition, the Americans went home, leaving Australia behind. These teams failed to further compete for the medals, only considering the ninth position in the tally of the tournament.
The candidates to make the playoffs descended onto the sand at the Beach Sports Centre for the evening session. The Paraguay women’s powerhouse gained a very important win over Chinese Taipei in the shootout. This success enabled the South Americans to occupy the fourth place in the group and dodged the bullet. The reigning world champions – Spain – confidently defeated Poland and topped Group I of the main round to let them take on a weaker contender of the first playoff round. To make it to the quarterfinal stage, the Danes had to come out victorious against Thailand and hope for Russia’s defeat in the match against Vietnam. Both conditions being provided, the women’s side from Denmark will try to stop the Spanish squad in the playoffs. The Brazilian women’s team finished their main round with maximum points. In the final match of the group round they gained the upper hand over Norway. Thus, the quarterfinal pairs of the Women’s Beach Handball World Championship look like this: Spain vs Denmark, Greece vs Russia, Poland vs Norway and Paraguay vs Brazil.
The men’s powerhouses played one match each to define all the participants for the quarterfinals, as well. Team Croatia and Team Spain competed for the top position in the group. The current world champions from the Balkans confidently won the first set, but eased off the gas in the second one. In the shootout good luck smiled on the Croats. Ivan Juric and the team have not lost a game so far. The beach handball players from Iran and Hungary struggled for the third spot in the same group, so the shootout decided the allocation of places. Team Hungary hit cleaner shots and celebrated the victory. Uruguay whitewashed Vietnam, but this win did not let the South Americans advance. The Russians did not expect to be defeated by Oman. After lapping the field in the first period, the host team gave in both in the second half and the shootout. The Danes got the better over the Brazilian powerhouse in the shootout, too. Sweden was sensationally defeated for the first time at the Championships by Qatar. In Group II of the main round the men’s competition was a curious issue. Sweden and Russia cruised to the playoffs, seating in the first two places. Two other berths into the quarterfinals were granted by additional metrics, as Brazil, Qatar, Denmark, and Oman had four points each. In the end, the Brazilians and the Danes earned the spots to play in the next round due to a better difference in points. The men’s quarterfinal pairs are the following: Sweden vs Iran, Brazil vs Spain, Croatia vs Denmark, Hungary vs Russia.