6 World Championships
2004: WCh in El Gouna (Egpyt)
The first official Beach Handball
World Championships took place in El
Gouna (Egypt) in November 2004.
In the women’s competition the
Europeans occupied the first five
places ahead of Brazil, Japan and
Hong Kong. In the men’s category,
Egypt became World Champion
ahead of the four participating
Europeans; Bahrain, Oman and Brazil
reached the last 3 places.
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6 World Championships
2006: 2nd WCh in Rio de Janeiro (BRA)
The second official Beach Handball World
Championships took place from 15 to the
20 November 2006 in Rio de Janeiro at
the world-famous beach of Copacabana.
10 teams competed in each category
(men & women) In addition to the 6
European teams, host Brazil, World
Champion Egypt (men), the Dominican
Republic (men and women) as well as
Bahrain (men) and Uruguay (women)
completed the field.
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6 World Championships
Brazil dominates at home:
In the Women‘s and in the Men‘s
Competition Brazil was able to win
the World Title for the first time.
German girls could give the
Brazilian girls a close fight at the
8000 seat PETROBRAS-Arena
and finally won the silver medal.
Russia gained bronze.
In the Men‘s final, Brazil beat
Turkey. Spain ranked third.
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6 World Championships
2008: Third WCh in Cadiz (ESP)
From the 9th to 13th of July 2008, the
third official Beach Handball World
Championship took place at the
Andalusian city of Cadiz (Spain).
It was agreed between the IHF and the
continental federations that Beach
Handball World Championships shall take
place in even years and the continental
Championships shall take place as a
qualifier before the WCh.
New countries like Pakistan, Lybia, Iran
and China entered the stage of the World
Championships.
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6 World Championships
Croatia follows Brazil:
Like two years ago one country won both
titles. The Croatian women won against
the strong playing host Spain. Brazil won
in the “little final” against Italy and finally
ranked third.
In the men’s competition, the Croatian
Men beat the reigning champion Brazil,
the Serbian Men could surprise with a win
against the strong Egyptians.
High spectator affluence, perfect
conditions and new ideas (like a shoot out
show during the opening ceremony)
showed a beautiful picture of the sport.
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6 World Championships
Beach Handball Statistics:
For the first time in the short
history of the Beach Handball
World Championships an explicit
analysis of the game itself was
done.
With the help of the Institute of
Sport Sciences of the University
of Tübingen, Germany a scouting
sheet for the matches was
developed.
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6 World Championships
Beach Handball Statistics:
The goal of the statistics project was to
get valid data and results for the further
development of the sport Beach
Handball as well as giving important
information to the coaches of the teams
during the tournament.
With the help of 20 volunteers of the
Cadiz Organizing Committee all 84
matches of the 3rd Beach Handball World
Championships 2008 were scouted live
and the scouting reports of the matches
were uploaded immediately after each
match on the IHF-webpage.
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6 World Championships
2010: Fourth WCh in Antalya (TUR)
From 22nd to 27th of June 2010, the
fourth official Beach Handball World
Championship will take place at the city
of Antalya (Turkey).
At the Lara Beach Park 12 women’s and
12 men’s teams will compete for the
trophy and the medals.
For the first time in the history of Beach
Handball World Championships New
Zealand and Australia will take part in
the event.
 www.antalya2010.org
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