Denmark win both gold medals at Beach Handball EURO 2019

Danish dynamite exploded twice during the final day of the Beach Handball EURO 2019 on Sunday.

Both the men’s and the women’s team were crowned beach handball champions of Europe, after they defeated Norway and Hungary, respectively, in the finals watched by 2,000 spectators on a packed Court 1 in Stare Jablonki.

It is a double ‘first’ for Denmark, who had never won a gold medal in the 10 previous editions of the Beach Handball EURO.

“Amazing, the best feeling ever!” said Denmark men’s head coach Gorm Andersen.

And his counterpart of the women’s team, Morten Chang Holmen, added: “I can’t describe it. I have been in four finals and lost them all. I knew now I have turn this around - and I did it, and girls of course. So it is fantastic.”

The bronze medals went to Hungary in the men’s event and to Netherlands in the women’s event.

Danish teams in control in finals

In the men’s final, Denmark had Norway under control from the beginning. Led by Jonas Corneliussen and Joachim Trend Hansen, who both ended on 15 scored points, Denmark won the first set 25:18.

Norway came closer in the second set but failed to put real pressure on their fellow Scandinavians. The score line remained in the balance for much of the set but in the end Denmark prevailed again (19:16) for a 2:0 victory.

The men’s triumph came just hours after the Danish women had beaten Hungary 2:0. They dominated the first set (18:12) but Hungary clawed their back into the match in the second.

Denmark led 22:20 when Rebeka Benzsay equalised for Hungary with 10 seconds left. However, Ann Cecilie Möller found a gap in the Hungarian defence and netted in the very last second for 23:22.

Bronze motivates Hungary for future events

In the men’s bronze medal match earlier Sunday, Hungary defeated Russia 2:0. After clearly winning the first set (26:20), Hungary needed a golden goal from Andras John to take the second as well (23:22).

The result gave Hungary their first medal in 10 years, after winning bronze in 2007 and ’09. They also played for bronze in 2015 and ’17 but lost both times.

“With the bronze medal we are very, very happy,” said head coach Istvan Gulyas, adding that the result would give Hungary additional motivation for future events.

“Five or six times we played the semi-finals and each time we lost,” he said. “I hope in the future we reach our target and we will play the final some time.”

Fantastic success for Dutch beach handball

Netherlands dominated the first set (23:14) of the women’s bronze medal match against former two-time champions Croatia but had to come back from 10:14 down in the second (22:20) to wrap up a 2:0 victory and win their first ever piece of silverware at a European Championship.

“This is a fantastic success for Dutch beach handball,” said head coach Ronald Thijssen, adding that the team wanted more after reaching its initial goal for the tournament - a ticket for the World Championship 2020.

“We have a lot of young players on the team but for some of the older ones, this was probably their last chance to win a European Championship medal.”

For the first time at a Beach Handball EURO all matches were streamed live on the European Handball Federation’s own OTT platform, ehfTV.com. Full matches as well as highlights from the later stages of the tournament are available on demand on ehfTV.com.

Beach Handball EURO 2019 All-star Team

On the closing day of the European Championships the most outstanding players were named into the Beach Handball EURO 2019 All-star Team:

Men:
Best goalkeeper: Simion Sejr Jensen - Denmark
Best defender: Peter Hajdu - Hungary
Top scorer: Cemal Kutahya - Turkey (172 points)
MVP: Kristoffer Henriksen - Norway
Fair-play team: Germany

Women:
Best goalkeeper: Agnes Györi - Hungary
Best defender: Emese Szilvia Toth - Hungary
Top scorer: Ksenia Dyachenko - Russia (157 points)
MVP: Marielle Martinsen - Norway
Fair-play team: North Macedonia

Photos: Uros Hocevar / kolektiff / EHF