DAY 1 REVIEW: Seven teams across both men’s and women’s competitions remained unbeaten after the opening day of matches at the European Beach Handball Tour Finals in Baia Mare
Spanish sides end opening day with perfect three from three
The old town in Baia Mare is awash with beach handball as a record number of 28 teams have taken over the Romanian city for the ebt Finals.
36 matches were played across three courts on the opening day, including night matches, which took place for the very first time at the event.
Men’s competition
Palletways Verallia Azuqueca enjoyed a blistering start to the week with three victories from as many matches.
The Spanish won all three matches 2:0 against Camelot, Wasserschloss and V. Gaw, with Julio Sierra Garcia leading the scoring with 49 points.
Russian side Ekaterinodar are knocking on the door in Group A with two wins from two, while HEI from Denmark and Serbia’s BHC 2areg both picked up maximum points in Group B.
Women’s competition
Club Balonmano Playa Algeciras were the only women’s side to win three matches on the opening day. It was far from easy for the southern Spanish side, but inspired by the prolific scoring of Maria Batista, they won all three encounters 2:0.
Sitting right behind them in Group A are defending champions Multichem-Szentendrei N.K.E, who won both of their matches.
CAIPIranhas lead the way in Group B as the only side with a perfect record. The group is wide open behind the Germans, as all but one of the clubs managed to pick up at least one victory.
Follow the fun
The action continues on Friday with the continuation of the preliminary round, which concludes on Saturday. The top four teams from each group will progress to the knock-out phase, consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final.
All matches will be streamed live on ehfTV.com and can be followed on beachticker.ehf.eu. You can also enjoy behind the scenes fun live from Baia Mare on Instagram @ehf_beach_handball.
TEXT:
EHF / cor