Cyprus made a surprise and advanced to the semi-final phase of the men’s Beach Handball tournament at the 3rd Mediterranean Beach Games “Heraklion 2023”.

Cyprus defeated title holders Greece 2-1 in the quarter-final and got revenge from their elimination from the Patras competition in 2019. It is worth noting that Beach Handball is a sport in which the Cypriots consistently have a good presence on the Mediterranean Beach Games, even having a silver medal from Pescara in 2015, when they again beat Greece in the semis!

Cyprus will play against world champions Croatia, who beat Morocco 2-0. The other semi-final will be between Spain and Italy. Spain easily beat Kosovo 2-0, while “Squadra Azura” beat Tunisia 2-1, with Arena scoring the winning goal in the shootout. .

The captain of Cyprus, Charalambos Papatryfonos, notes: “Congratulations to the Greek team for the nice match. It was a huge win for us, because we started the pre-season on our own with a lot of absences. We showed strength and soul and beat a very strong opponent”.

Spain coach, Miguel Cristobal Rugda Roman commented: “We are happy to qualify. It’s a special moment for me too since it’s my first season with the team. Against Italy we have a difficult task, we have to give everything to go through. The organization is amazing, I was also here last year at the World Beach Handball. Congratulations to the organizers”

Results (Monday September 11th)

1st quarter-final: Croatia- Morocco 2-0 (24-23, 30-22)

2nd quarter-final: Italy-Tunisia 2-1 (26-19, 18-27, 11-10)

3rd quarter-final: Spain- Kosovo 2-0 (28-12, 28-13)

4th quarter-final: Greece- Cyprus 1-2 (16-18, 28-20, 4-6)

Programme (Tuesday September 12th)

12:00 places 5-8 Morocco- Greece – court 2

12:50 positions 5-8 Tunisia- Kosovo – court 2

15:30 1st semi-final Croatia- Cyprus – court 2

16:20 2nd semi-final Italy- Spain – court 2