The second day of action at the Jarun Cup 2025 has seen decisions made across the eight men’s and women’s senior groups, featuring 48 teams.
Winners of each preliminary group get a bye directly into the quarter-finals, while those teams finishing second and third in each group move into the quarter-final play-offs. The bottom three in each group move into the 13-24 placement group stages.
Defending men’s champions finish second in group
GRD Leca-Spar, who won the Jarun Cup 2024 title, were pushed into second place in their preliminary group after losing 0-2 (18:28, 18:23) against Danish side HEI Beachhandball. Both sides feature a number of Portugal and Denmark national team players, who both won medals last year at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship.
But it was the Danish national team players who made the impact on the penultimate day of preliminary action, including Mikkel Stark going under the moniker ‘Mikkel T-Rex’ (17 points) and ‘Simon Palle Snik Snak’, also known as Simon Moss – who was voted into the All-star Team at China 2024 as best pivot – scoring 17 and 14 points respectively. Gothenburg ended the day in third on six points, with EFE Tigres Level just behind – they play the final, remaining group game on Saturday, against AKRP Zagreb.
Nordlichter U18 ended the second day top of group B with six points from five games, while BHC Harena and Plasroal Balonmano Playa Alcala are just behind on six points each. Hungarian side SC Squadra Buda have the chance to win the group with two wins in their – and the group’s – last two games on Saturday.
Aarhus Beach won Group C, finishing with five 2-0 wins in a row. With Denmark national team goalkeeper Andreas Hogh leading them, they consolidated their dominance with three victories on day two.
BHC Zagreb, Gyor and Hiekka Hauskaa all ended the day top, with six points each in group D, but with three games left in the group, including two for BHC Dubrava in second on four points, anything is possible.
Hungarians and Dutch look strong in women’s competition
Group A was the first seniors’ group to wrap-up at the Jarun Cup 2025, with Multichem Szentendrei NKE from Hungary finishing top thanks to five wins from five. Behind them were BHC Zagreb in second (8 points), with a three-way tie between KS AZS AWF Warszawa, Plasroal Balonmano Playa Alcala and BHC Harena all ending on four points each. Polish side AZS ended up taking the third spot after they beat Alcala in their final game 12:10 via shoot-out.
Group B enters the final day with two Dutch teams top in defending champions Westsite Amsterdam, plus KRAS Volendam on eight points each and qualified through to the next stage. Amsterdam have one game left, against third placed Red Velvet BHC on Saturday, with Red Velvet securing their passage through too should they win that, or their other match, against bottom side BHT Bielsko-Biala Young.
Group C was won by Hiekka Hauskaa with five wins from five, while Copenhagen Beach are in second (6 points) and Venice Beach Girls currently sit in third, with four points. The sole remaining game in the group is between BHC Dubrava and Goteborg BHC who both sit on four points in fourth and fifth place respectively – whoever wins will secure the final spot through.
All teams in Group D have two games each on the final day in a packed schedule. OVB Beach Girls and Sweden sit in second and third on four points each, with London GD on top thanks to three wins from three. Beach Handball Tilburg and BHT Bielsko-Biala sit on two each with Blue Team at the bottom.
The Jarun Cup 2025 also features numerous young age category events too. For updates on their scores, groups and much more, visit https://results.jaruncup.com/