Russia and Hungary take gold at under-19 Beach Handball Championships

Hungary have defended their title in the Women's 19 European Beach Handball Championships on Sunday with a 2:1 win against hosts Spain, while the men's event has seen new winners with Russia topping the podium.

Spain had the better start to the women's final as they narrowly took the first set 21:20 - up until this point Spain was yet to lose a set in this tournament.

However, this then happened in the final's second set, which Hungary dominated and eventually won 25:13.

The subsequent shoot-out turned into a true thriller: Hungary showed some nerves first and failed to convert the third penalty.

However, Spain faltered with their fourth attempt and when Spain's goalkeeper Ana Marin Perez missed a direct goal attempt, Hungary celebrated a 10:8 win in the shoot-out and a 2:1 win overall.

The following men's final was a bit more of straight forward affair then as Russia proved too strong for Croatia.

Russia took the first set 31:16, and when Croatia weakened themselves with a red card to Nikita Stepanov, the Russians had no problems also taking the second set in convincing fashion 28:21.

Earlier in the day Germany's under-19 team had beaten Russia's women's team 2:1 in the match for third place. 

It was the first medal for Germany in their first European Championship participation at this level.

Bronze in the men's event went to hosts Spain who beat defending champions Hungary 2:0.