Summer blog: Austrian-Czech final in Varna; Crunch time at beach events
The Summer Blog on eurohandball.com guides you through all the action at the various Younger Age Category (YAC) and beach handball events taking place this summer.
21:55
And that sums up a busy day on the courts... and it won't get any different on Sunday, when the beach handball events in Prague and the M20 EHF Championship in Varna all come to an end, while the M20 EHF EURO in Portugal resumes with the last matches in the preliminary round.
So, I am sure we see you back at our Summer Blog tomorrow! Until then, sleep well..:
21:46
Back to the beach in Prague, where Hungary enjoyed a great day the EHF Beach Handball Championships 2022, reaching the final in both the men's and the women's event.
This is how it all panned out on Saturday:
Semi-finals:
- Hungary vs Türkiye 2:0
- Germany vs Ukraine 2:1
Medal matches:
- Sunday at 17:15 CEST, bronze medal match: Türkiye vs Ukraine
- Sunday at 18:45 CEST, final: Hungary vs Germany
Semi-finals:
- Hungary vs Croatia 2:0
- Poland vs France 2:0
Medal matches:
- Sunday at 18:00 CEST, bronze medal match: Croatia vs France
- Sunday at 19:30 CEST, final: Hungary vs Poland
21:31
I am sure you are familiar with EHF's 'Respect Your Talent' initiative. One of its Player of the Match events took place on the fringes of the Men's 20 EHF Championship in Varna and featured three-time EHF Champions League winner and Olympic bronze medallist Carlos Prieto! The Spanish great once again was an inspiring example for the young generation of future handball stars.
20:42
Congratulations to Austria! They have just followed neighbours Czech Republic into the final of the Men's 20 EHF Championship 2022 in Varna.
Austria defeated Finland 34:28 - a margin that already existed at half-time (19:13) after Austria had even enjoyed a 10-goal lead (17:7) after 24 minutes. Franko Lastro with 12 goals the big man for Austria.
19:51
We stay on the beach in Prague for the EHF Beach Handball Championships for women and for men.
The semi-finals are running at the moment, but just as important is the question: which teams qualify for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2023 in Portugal?
This week's events are the official senior qualification tournaments for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2023: 9 women’s teams and 10 men’s teams at the event in Prague will earn their tickets for Portugal 2023:
- with nine of the 11 women's participants qualifying, only two will miss the boat - and those two will come from the consolation round involving Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Romania; so, two of those teams will not qualify, all others have or will
- with 10 from 12 men's teams qualifying, we again have two teams that will not book their trip to Portugal 2023 this weekend - and those two will come from the consolation round involving Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, and Czech Republic
Of course, we will post the full list of qualified teams once those consolation rounds have been finished and the qualified teams have been officially confirmed on Sunday.
19:38
Next up the M16 EHF Beach Handball EURO. The quarter-finals produced those four winners: Spain (2:1 vs Sweden), Germany (2:0 vs France), Croatia (2:0 vs Czech Republic), and Hungary (2:1 vs Ukraine).
That leads to this semi-final line-up for Sunday at 9:45 CEST:
- Hungary vs Germany
- Croatia vs Spain
19:26
Let's swap to the sandy courts in Prague, where the semi-finals have been confirmed at the YAC 16 Beach Handball EURO in both the women's competition and the men's competition.
Ladies first...
The quarter-finals in the W16 EHF Beach Handball EURO have been won by Spain (2:0 vs Germany), Netherlands (2:0 vs Poland), Hungary (2:0 vs Sweden), and Ukraine (2:0 vs Norway) today.
This confirms the following semi-final line-up for Sunday at 11:15 CEST:
- Spain vs Ukraine
- Netherlands vs Hungary
19:10
Good evening, and welcome back to the Summer Blog. Even with the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2022 in Portugal on hold, there is a lot going on today elsewhere.
First of all, congrats to Czech Republic, who have beaten Netherlands 36:29 in the first semi-final of the M20 EHF Championship in Bulgaria! Led by Lukáš Morkovský and Pavel Bajer, who both scored eight times, the Czechs already took a big step towards the final when they build a nine-goal lead in the first half: 20:11.
The second semi-final, featuring Austria and Finland, started a few minutes ago and is currently streamed live on EHFTV.
10:40
Now that you are up to date on all competitions running, let's have a look at what comes your way live on EHFTV today:
- since 9:15 CEST: last preliminary round matches in the women's event of the YAC 16 Beach Handball EURO; quarter-finals to follow later Saturday
- from 10:45 CEST: last preliminary round matches in the men's event of the YAC 16 Beach Handball EURO; quarter-finals to follow later Saturday
- from 14:45 CEST: last preliminary round matches in the men's event of the EHF Beach Handball Championship; semi-finals to follow later Saturday
- from 15:30 CEST: last preliminary round matches in the women's event of the EHF Beach Handball Championship; semi-finals to follow later Saturday
- at 16:30 CEST: first semi-final Czech Republic vs Netherlands at the M20 EHF Championship
- at 19:00 CEST: second semi-final Austria vs Finland at the M20 EHF Championship
That should leave you with more than enough handball to watch for the next few hours. We will resume the live blog this evening with all updates from Prague and Varna.
10:26
Friday's play have brought the first decision in the Women's EHF Beach Handball Championship 2022 group phase:
- in group A, Hungary have maintained their perfect record after four matches, handing France their first defeat (2:0) in their last match Friday; Hungary lead with eight points, Ukraine and France are next on six
- in group B, both Poland and Croatia added their third straight win on Friday to lead the group with a flawless six from three; Türkiye are third with four points, but they have no match left in this five-team group, which means Poland and Croatia have secured the top two spots and their places in the semi-finals!
10:14
Both groups are pretty tight at the Men's EHF Beach Handball Championship 2022 before the teams play their last match later today. After Friday evening's play, no team is unbeaten as the battle for the semi-final spots is going down to the wire:
- in group A, Hungary defeated Ukraine 2:0 in their last match Friday and are sole leaders with six points; on the hunt are France, Netherlands, Ukraine, and Switzerland with four points each
- in group B, Türkiye suffered their first defeat on Friday night – 2:0 against Germany, and both teams now lead with six points from four matches; Poland, Sweden, and Romania all follow on four points, leaving the race to the knockout phase wide open
9:55
The teams at the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2022 enjoy a rest day after the first two matches of the preliminary round.
These are the results from the late matches Friday:
- Group A: Poland vs Spain 32:41; Norway vs Portugal 26:35
- Group C: Montenegro vs Croatia 25:28; France vs Sweden 24:31
Those results mean that Spain and Portugal have secured the top two spots in group A with four points each, while their direct duel Sunday will decide who wins the group.
Sweden are also on four points in group C, followed by Croatia and France on two. With a draw against Croatia on Sunday, Sweden would lock up the No. 1 spot.
