The greatest success of Italy men’s Beach Handball took place in Heraklion, Crete at the 3rd Mediterranean Beach Games. Italy eliminated Spain with a 2-1 upset in the 2nd semi-final and qualified for the first time in its history in the final of any international competition!

The “Squadra Azzura” had a great leader in Thomas Postongna, who repelled two executions by the Spaniards in the shoot-outs, while he made big interventions in both sets that preceded.

“What we have achieved is unrepeatable, because we started our preparation really late. We have a mix of young and experienced athletes. All of Europe now knows that we are strong. It’s the first final for the Men’s National Team, today we made history in that awesome location. We are happy to be here in Greece, in Crete in this beautiful place and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all the contributors for the organization”, said the goalkeeper of the Italians.

Final number 14 for Croatia!

The Italians will face the Croatians in the final, who easily beat Cyprus 2-0. This will be the 14th final for the Croatian Men’s National Beach Handball, a superpower in the sport and first in the Mediterranean Beach Games, aiming for their 9th gold after 3 Worlds, 4 EUROs and 1 World Games!

This facility has proved particularly magical for Croatia, after winning two gold medals in the Men’s and Junior world championships last year, something star and world champion Ivan Juric of course recalled in his remarks: “We knew that the semi-final would have nothing to do with the game we gave at the premiere of the event. We have great memories from the facility here, we won two world titles last year. I told my teammates that here we impose the rules for the gold medal.”

Results (Tuesday September 12th)

Croatia- Cyprus 2-0 (26-14, 30-20)

Italy- Spain 2-1 (18-24, 24-21, 7-4)

Programme (Wednesday September 13th)

10:50 places 7-8: Morocco- Kosovo

11:40 places 5-6: Greece-Tunisia

17:00 Short final: Cyprus – Spain

19:00 Final: Croatia- Italy