On June 23, Croatian time, the 2026 World Beach Handball Championship opened.
On the very first day, the Vietnamese women's beach handball team played against the reigning world champion, the German women's team.
Despite facing the world's No. 1 strongest opponent, the Vietnamese women's beach handball players still played confidently, only losing regrettably at the last minute.
In the first round, the Vietnamese player surprised by winning 23-22. However, in the second round, the German team regained control to win back 30-18. Players from both sides entered the penalty shootout to determine the winner. In this nerve-wracking battle, the German team won 4-7. Overall, the Vietnamese girls lost 1-2.
Also on the competition day of June 23, the Vietnamese women's beach handball team lost 1-2 to the Netherlands team.
Notably, we continued to lose to the opponent in the penalty shootout after drawing 1-1 in 2 official rounds. In the penalty shootout, the Vietnamese player lost 4-9.
On the afternoon of June 24, we played the 3rd match of the group stage against Uruguay. Luck did not come to the Vietnamese women's beach handball team when they lost 1-2. We lost in this penalty shootout match with a score of 5-10.
This year's tournament has 16 teams participating in the final round including Germany, Netherlands, Uruguay, Vietnam, Spain, Croatia, Cook Islands, Puerto Rico, Norway, Greece, Brazil, USA, Argentina, Denmark, Philippines and Benin.
