Beach handball made its comeback to the sand in Hungary at the weekend.

Action on the ebt had been halted due to the outbreak of Covid-19 but, with a number of travelling restrictions in Europe lifted, organisers of the V. Budapest Cup were able to host the return of competitive beach handball.

Home teams on top

The beach handball players had clearly missed the sand between their toes with 38 teams from across Europe competing across the men’s and women’s tournaments.

In both competitions, teams from Hungary dominated – with five of the six top-three finishers hailing from the host nation.

In the men’s tournament Duna House Fervas BHC took first place, beating Dinamit BHC in an all-Hungarian final. BHC Zagreb, from Croatia, finished in third.

It was also an all-Hungarian affair in the final of the women’s event with LV Sport Multichem overcoming OVB Beach Girls in the battle for first place. Strandépítők, another Hungarian-based side, finished in third.

Next up on the beach

The gradual return to the sand continues this week with four ebt tournaments scheduled to throw off.

In Cyprus, the Larnaka Beach Handball Tournament begins on 17 July, as does the Thessaloniki Challenge in Greece.

The following day a further two events get underway: the Beach Handball Gdansk competition in Poland and the 7th Greek Cup, in Thessaloniki.

A full round-up of the results will be on eurohandball.com next Monday.