Plenty of beach action on Day 1 of Champions Cup

The weather for the first edition of the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup was just as it was supposed to be: There was plenty of sun and hardly a cloud visible in the Gran Canarian sky when the first games threw off on Friday.

"We love it. There are lots of tourists, the weather is amazing and hot. People are very nice, they always try to help you if you have any problem.

"I really think that I will come back again some day for holidays," said Kerstin Kovacs from Italian women’s side FIGH Esercito Futura Roma.

Kovacs and her teammates started with 2:0 (13:9, 13:10) into the tournament and are currently ranked second in Group 2.

"I believe we have very good chances because we have been training a lot and we are very self-confident," said Kovacs.

Following the group phase the two top ranked teams from Group A and B advance to the semi-finals. However, so far none of the women’s participants has pulled away as of yet as those who already played two matches lost at least one of them (results overview women’s event).

In the men’s event Club BM Playa Ciudad de Malaga from Spain and Dabas Beach Boy'z are yet unbeaten, but both have played just one match yet (results overview men’s event).

Competition resumes on Saturday, with the first matches throwing off at 9:00 hrs in the morning.

The group phase will be concluded tomorrow, while semi-finals, placement matches and the final will be played on Sunday, 2 November.

All matches on the main court are streamed live via the event’s website: http://www.grancanariabhb.com/video/

More information on the tournament is available on the event's official website.

For regular update from European beach handball join the ever-growing community on the EHF’s official Beach Handball Facebook page.