Croatian Handball Federation President and member of the IHF Executive Board, Tomislav Grahovac, has praised the atmosphere created at the Jarun Cup 2026, citing the event as one of the reasons why beach handball is growing and has a healthy future.
Grahovac was at the Jarun Cup on the shores of Lake Jarun on Friday to take in the environment and atmosphere at the site and then present trophies to the teams competing at the opening stage of the 2026 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour.
And while he was there, he took time out to speak to JarunCup.com.
“As the organiser of many competitions in handball – we have more competitions this year at Jarun, including the IHF World Championships and EHF events, it’s always important to attend these events and good for everybody that we see what is good and what it is we need to prepare for the these competitions. The IHF Beach Handball Global Tour here was fantastic,” he said.
“In Croatia, we always try to show the best. In the past, we organised so many international competitions – Men’s and Women’s World and European championships – and we always try to show and do our best and it’s the same situation now. We hope again we will show to all countries, how Zagreb and Croatia looks and that we are good as organisers.”
Turning his attention to the Jarun Cup 2026, Grahovac praised the unique atmosphere on a sunny public holiday with a wide range of young kids, families and older adults all coming together to celebrate the sport and the outdoor life across the newly-expanded, six-court event.
“It’s always very good to show to the young people, the children, the parents what beach handball is,” he explained. “Beach handball is so attractive, and I hope in the future, that beach handball will grow more. It’s a very good sport for indoor handball because they play it in the summer, when it is nice weather, and there is a pause in the indoor game. This is good in preparing for the next season. So many children here can see how it’s attractive. Beach handball has a good future.
“There are full tribunes here,” he added. “Everyone is enjoying the sun on this public holiday, people are free; they don’t have to work, school is closed and it’s a good opportunity to walk here to this nice area, in a great position for organising these tournaments.
“I am very happy because now, at the end of the Global Tour stage, all the teams – women’s and men’s – were together on the court, and had these nice pictures together. And that’s the point of the sport, the point of the handball: growing together and working together with happy faces. That’s the point and why we do all of this.”
And the day was a strange one for Jarun Cup founder and organiser Mladen Paradžik – who is also coach of the Croatian men’s national team, winners of the Global Tour stage.
“It’s my dream come true because we started the Jarun Cup 18 years ago and I couldn’t ever have imagined we will grow to the stage where we can host the best teams of the world here,” he explained.
“About half-an-hour before Croatia games, I was still one of the organisers of the Jarun Cup and then I became national head coach. Directly after the games I was Jarun Cup organiser again, but even during the games I was here helping my remarkable team who work on the event.”
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All results, live scores and schedules can be found at results.jaruncup.com.
You can watch live action from courts 1, 2, 3 and 4 by visiting here: https://www.youtube.com/@BHCZAGREB/streams
Photo: Kolektiff