Defending champions reach semi-final at Champions Cup

The winners of the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup 2015 might very well be the same as last year, after both defending champions - Ekaterinodar in the men's event and Skrim Kongsberg in the women's event - reached the competition's semi-final on Saturday.

On Sunday Ekaterinodar will now face multiple ebt Finals champions Detono Zagreb, while Skrim Kongsberg play against Multichem Szentendrei NKE.

In the men's second semi-final BHT Auto Forum Petra Plock play against Team Sweden; the second women's semi-final sees BHT Piotrkowianin Juko Piotrków Trybunalski up against the OVB- Beach Girls.

The matches will take place on Sunday morning. Fans can follow them on the dedicated beach handball live ticker or via the live stream on the official website.

Ekaterinodar are yet to lose a set in this competition and German side BC Sand Devils Minden, their opponents in the quarter-finals, were no obstacle either, as the Russian team won the first set 21:16 and the second 16:9.

Their semi-final opponents, Detono Zagreb, have had ups and down at this tournament so far. They finished the group phase in second position with three wins and two losses, but then produced a convincing performance in the quarter-final and downed HEI Skaering in two straight sets.

"I hope we will win, we have such a good and strong team, although the other teams are very strong and they are not easy rivals," said Ekaterinodar's Nikolai Prohorov.

The surprise package in the semis are Plock, who only finished fourth in the group but then stunned Spanish side Club BM Playa Ciudad de Malaga, the first placed team from Group B, 2:1 in the quarter-finals.

Top women's teams in the semis

With Multichem Szentendrei and OVB-Beach Girls both Hungarian participants have made it to the women's semi-finals.

Both had finished second in their group and both won their quarter-finals - the Beach Girls met Brüder Ismaning from Germany, Szentendrei played 100 Ondas / N. Belchior from Portugal - in two straight sets.

However, the Hungarian teams' only defeats so far came against the teams - in reverse order - they will play in the semi-finals.

In the group phase Kongsberg beat the Beach Girls 2:0, while BHT Piotrkowianin Juko Piotrków Trybunalski beat Szentendrei 2:1.

The semi-finals and the finals in both events will be played on Sunday.