More sun, more sand, more surprises at the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup 2023

Women's competition: 

The main round and quarter finals of the women's category have finished after day three.
Going into the day, six women’s main round matches remained before the quarter-finals. On Sunday, it is already onto the semi-finals as just four teams stay to battle for the trophy - OVB Beach Girls (HUN) will face Beach Bazis (GER), and CATS A.M. Almeria (SPA) oppose The Danish Handball Dream (DEN).

• In a main round match-up, OVB Beach Girls (HUN) claimed a victory over The Danish Beach Handball Dream (DEN) with the smallest margin of a last second blocked shot taking the match to shootout. The defensive power of OVB appeared to mark the difference in the games with an exceptional performance by no. 1 Dora Berkesi saving five of the six penalties in the shootout.
  
  
• OVB continued to display their prestige by defeating CBMP Ciudad de Málaga (ESP). Málaga pushed the Hungarians to a shoutout but failed to take advantage.
  
  
• Beach Bazis (GER) leap-frogged Byczki Kowalewo Pomorskie (POL), beating them with a firm win in their final match of the group. Magdalena Mazur scored an impressive 22 points for the Poles in this match-up. Despite the loss Byczki had done enough to earn their place in the quarter-finals and both teams proceeded through.
  
  
• Bazis proceeded to defeat GRD Leça (POR), in a stunning quarter-finals full of twists and turns. Former champion Leça had been one of the most exciting teams to watch, playing every match close to the end.
  
  
• Byczki were knocked out in their quarter-final against CATS A.M. Almeria. Almeria began the day top of their main round group on points difference, defeating second place Beach Bazis (GER) to reaffirm their place in the quarter-finals. 
  
  
• The Danish Beach Handball Dream (DEN) kept their dream alive, defeating Multichem Szentendre to make it to the semi-finals.

Tomorrow's womens game will all be livestreamed - with both semi-finals throwing off at 13:45 CEST (12:45 local time) - WATCH THEM HERE.

Men's competition: 

The main round is not yet over – with three more matches left to take place on Sunday morning to determine who goes into the semi-final. The top four go through to the semi-finals, 1st and 4th place playing each other and 2nd against 3rd.

• Rødby Beach Boys (DEN), GRD Leça SPAR (POR), BHT Petra Plock (POL), E.F.E Os Tigres (POR), 12Monkeys Köln BHC (GER) and Hír-Sat BHC (HUN) are all battling it out for those top four spots.
   
• All six teams have won a match so far in the group, leaving the top four spots all to play for.
  
  
• Rødby looked likely to be the only team ending day three undefeated after they came out victorious against Hír-Sat. The Hungarians gave the Danes their first set defeat of the tournament. However, Plock hit the Danes with their first loss in a shootout late on in the day. Rødby hold onto that top spot for now.
  
  
• 12Monkeys Köln BHC were looking strong contenders for semi-finals after defeating Hír-Sat and Petra Plock in their first two matches. However, despite no. 10 Matthew Wollin scoring 21 points in the game, a strong Tigres side, took a bite out of Kölns chances, defeating them in a match that came to an exhilarating shoot out. Köln didn't let that rattle them and battled on to beat Leça, holding onto that second place with only points difference keeping them from the top.
  
  
• E.F.E Os Tigres' victory over Köln was vital after they took two defeats in the round to Plock then Rødby. Their comeback in the group was concluded for the day with a toughly fought win over Hír-Sat.
  
  
• Alongside E.F.E Os Tigres, Plock also have two wins and two losses with their stunning win against Rødby putting them right back in contention for top four.
  
  
• Hír-Sat BHC and GRD Leça SPAR trail with one win each, but with just one win keeping them from semi-finals, both teams will be putting everything into their last games of the group tomorrow. Hír-Sat play Plock, while Leça play Tigres- the difference between them is slight, anyone of them could go through.
  
  Rødby vs Köln is a must-watch tomorrow morning – 10:00 CEST (09:00 local time), court 2- catch it here on EHFTV.

The day rounded off with two friendly fixtures between All-star Teams picked by the coaches - check out the star studded line-up's here.

First, coach Alex Novakovic's All-star women's team "Shaken, not stirred" faced up to Tamas Neukum's "Queens of Porto Santo." In a tight and spirited game, "Shaken, not stirred" eventually came victorious in a late shootout.

Next "Bacalhau Mighty Boys" coached by Martin Hjortshøj took on "Porto Santos Flying Dolphins" with Gorm Andersen leading the team. The mighty boys took the first set and the flying dolphins the second - going into a shootout which Martin's boys won.

The competition resumes on Sunday, 15 October at 10:00 CEST (09:00 local time) with all matches streamed live on EHFTV and court 1 streamed on the Home of Handball Twitch channel. 

All results from the first two competition days as well as the schedule are available HERE. 

Tune in to the Home of Handball Twitch show for the medal matches watchalongs with our Chris O'Reily, female commentator candidate Alex Mair and Norway's beach handball star Elisabeth Hammerstad.