Fantastic Hungary and Croatia progress to men’s and women’s semi-finals

• in the women’s competition, reigning champions Hungary made it to the semi-finals with a shoot-out win against Spain, 7:6 in the decisive set, in a rematch of the final from two years ago, as bronze medallists the Netherlands also qualified for the penultimate act, with a 2:0 (30:20; 22:16) win over Bulgaria
• between the qualified teams in the semi-finals, only the Netherlands have won all their six matches, with Hungary (5-1), France (5-1) and Croatia (4-2) all dropping matches on the way
• Spain’s Carlota Bravo Garcia is the clear leader in the top scorers' standings, with 162 points, nearly double the tally of the second place, Croatia’s Helena Furcic, who has 90 points, while Germany’s Mia Herr is third, with 85 points
• Croatia will face France in the semi-finals, on Sunday, while the Netherlands face off against reigning champions Hungary
• in the men’s competition, the finalists from the last edition, Hungary and Spain, both went through to the semi-finals, with the reigning champions, Hungary, taking a 2:0 win in the quarter-final against Czechia, while Spain delivered a 2:0 win against Ukraine
• Czechia’s Matouš Kek is the top scorer, with 150 points, followed by Spain’s Jesus Sanchez de la Nieta Garcia, with 121 points, and Türkiye’s Mehmet Ege Tan (111 points)
• in the semi-finals, Spain face Germany, while Hungary meet Croatia after the latter side delivered a shoot-out win against Sweden in the quarter-finals, 7:6

Flawless streaks ended abruptly 

Over 100 matches were played on the sandy courts in Varna, Bulgaria, with the top European teams in the Under-16 category delivering some excellent performances, proving that the future is bright for beach handball.

The balanced nature of the competition was proven in the women’s competition, where Germany and Spain, which did not lose any match in the preliminary round and only two sets between them, were eliminated in the quarter-finals, conceding losses against Croatia and Hungary, respectively.

In the men’s competition, between the four teams which won their groups, all with three wins in three matches, Czechia were eliminated by Hungary, as the reigning champions are still in the hunt to win the title.