The third day of the Jarun Cup 2026 saw 112 games played from eight in the morning until just before 11 at night – and it was not even the busiest day of the five-day beach handball festival.
That comes on Saturday (2 May) with 120 games scheduled as the competitions enter their knock-out stages.
But first, Friday. The national ‘Labour Day’ public holiday for Croatia is one of the founding principals of the Jarun Cup, with the tournament always held around that special date.
And in 2026 it was special, with 1,000s of spectators moving through the six beach handball courts surrounding Jarun Lake – some seeing the sport for the first time and others well-versed in the electrifying action on the sand.
Away from the club games, the opening stage of the 2026 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour (BHGT) was won by Portugal’s women and Croatia’s men, who, with their gold medals, also ensured a place in the finals of the global event to be played later this year.
The conclusion of the 16-game, two-day event, helped the Jarun Lake site with preparations for the upcoming 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in June, which will take place at the same venue – and home fans were happy to see Croatia’s women take bronze as well.
Many of the players representing their national teams had to also keep their club shirts to hand too with a packed schedule running alongside the global event.
Senior men’s title-holders, Portuguese side GRD Leca – Spar continued their good form, winning two out of two for the second day running, this time against White Boys and Vakedo Gaw 2-0 each. 2025 runners-up HEI Beachhandball also won all of their games, against Aarhus 2-1 (28:27, 16:28, SO 12:10), BHT Bielsko 2-0 (45:4, 50:10) and BHC Harena 2-0 (32:18, 28:22).
Women’s senior runners-up from last year, KRAS Volendam, beat Olympia Beach Handball (2-1), RV New Wave (2-0) and OVB Beach Girls (2-0) to continue their unbeaten start to the event.
Follow and watch the Jarun Cup 2026
Follow and engage with the Jarun Cup via the website, Facebook or Instagram.
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