The fourth day of action at the Jarun Cup 2026 saw the most games played across the five-day event, with titles confirmed for a variety of age groups across 120 games and the preliminary groups concluded in the senior men’s and women’s competitions in the morning session and knockout rounds starting in the afternoon session.
In the men’s competition, the unbeaten GRD Leca – Spar topped group A with six wins from six, CBMP Ciudad de Malaga won the two-way tie at the top of group B from Goteborg BHC, HEI Beach Handball saw off Danish rivals Aarhus Beach in their tie in group C and Hiekka Hauskaa came out above ETO-University BHC in group D – all six teams having won five and lost one.
The women’s competition saw four table-toppers all in dominant form, having won all six of their pool games each: Westsite Amsterdam in preliminary group A, Copenhagen Beach in group B, CBMP Ciudad de Malaga in group C and Red Velvet BHC in group D.
The top three teams in all four preliminary groups in each senior competition progressed directly through to the Round of 16, with teams finishing in fourth and fifth place in each group moving into the play-offs, the four winning teams, joining the Round of 16. All other teams went into the ranking competition.
In the women’s competition, last year’s runners-up KRAS Volendam crashed out to BHC Zagreb (0-2), while Copenhagen’s progress was halted by RD Leca – Lovetiles, 10:8 in the shoot-out. The men’s event also featured a shock at Club Balonmano Playa Algeciras beat title-holders GRD Leca-Spar 2-0 (22:19, 14:10).
A birthday present late in the day for Rianne Mol
Jarun Cup 2024 winners and 2025 fourth-placed side Westsite Amsterdam continued their winning form, seeing off home side BHC Zagreb 2-1 (27:23, 22:23, SO 10:8) in their quarter-final clash, which saw a save and deflection put the Dutch side through to the last four.
“It’s a great feeling. We felt like we were losing it a bit as in the second set they were playing very good,” explained Westsite’s Rianne Mol to jaruncup.com. “It could have gone either way and a shoot-out can always go either way too. They almost had it with a one-pointer, but luckily enough, we managed to save it.
“I don’t think that means anything to be honest,” added Mol about remaining unbeaten in Zagreb. “We have done a lot of tournaments where we have beaten everyone in the pool games and then lose the quarter-finals, and then you have nothing. So, the last two matches today (Round of 16) and tomorrow (semi-finals/medal matches) that’s when it really matters, and you really have to win them otherwise it doesn’t mean anything that you won everything in the group phase.”
And the day was extra special for Mol, who was celebrating her 36th birthday. “We’re definitely going to get some drinks now to celebrate making the semi-finals, but the best birthday present would be gold tomorrow.”
The other quarter-finals saw the all-Portuguese clash, GRD Leca – Lovetiles and AD IASPORTS won by AD 2-1 (17:16, 14:19, SO 6:4), The Danish Beach Handball Dream beat Red Velvet BHC 2-1 (18:22, 27:18, SO 6:4) and OVB Beach Girls beat CBMP Ciudad de Malaga 2-0 (13:12, 22:18).
“I knew them from the previous seasons and from Champions Cup, but as you could see, I had tough time with the goalkeeper,” said OVB’s Renata Csiki. “But we never gave up, and we had this power in us throughout the day, and it lasts until the last match. It is something like my 12th time coming here to the Jarun Cup and it’s always good, especially for us Hungarians because our season didn’t start yet. It’s like a preparation for us and this year; this tournament means the preparation for the ebt Masters.”
Switching shirts and focus for Ivan Juric and BHC Zagreb
After failing to qualify directly for the quarter-finals, BHC Zagreb ended up playing five times, their first match at 10am and last at 10pm.
And following the conclusion of their 12-hour stint, they were in the semi-finals, having beaten BHC Hir-Sat BHC 2-1 (23:22, 24:25, SO 8:6) in the quarter-finals, the clock pushing 11pm as a saved shot in the shoot-out saw them through.
“There was a situation in the world championship two years ago, pretty similar to this,” said Ivan Juric about the late save against the Hungarian side from Valentino Valentaković. “We knew that we had to go out against their player, Patrik (Vizes) and to see what will happen. Because last time, we managed to save the ball, and this time, it was pretty the same situation and my coach ran over and said ‘you knew it!’. I was very happy, because I had foreseen something.”
Combined with his club games, Juric also played for Croatia on the same sand, winning the first stage of the IHF Global Tour on Friday and admitted it was hard to keep track of what shirt he was wearing.
“The first game for the club after the Global Tour we actually lost 2-0 so I was saying to myself; ‘Okay, I have just won Global Tour Stage One with my national team and now we cannot win against the Hungarian team because we thought we were better. But still, we are growing from game-to-game and we have some new players. We also had some last minute subs because of injuries and maybe this is why we struggled so much in the group stages.”
The other quarter-finals saw Club Balonmano Playa Algeciras bet Goteborg BHC 2-1 (20:25, 20:14, SO 10:8), Aarhus Beach defeat Playas de Fuengirola 2-0 (25:20, 24:18) and HEI Beach Handball defeat ETO-University BHC 2-1 (20:24, 28:21, SO 9:8).
Next generation honours awarded
In the Boys YAC 2008 competition BHC Harena took the title, defeating Ukraine U17 2-0 (29:24, 13:12). RK Dobova beat Goricani 2-0 to win bronze. The girl’s YAC 2008 event saw Furki Sport beat Goteborg BHC 2-0 (17:12, 15:10) to win gold, Slovakia U16’s won bronze after beating BHC Stockholm Pink Panthers 2-0 (25:24, 14:8).
Ukraine’s U15 boys won the YAC 2010 title, with a 2-0 (24:22, 26:22) win over RK Dobova, BHC DK taking bronze with a 10:8 shoot-out win over MRK Zapresic.
Goteborg BHC’s YAC 2010 girls side defeated Slovakia U16 2-0 (25:8, 17:14) to claim the title, UKS Olimpijczyk Kowalewo Pomorskie won bronze, defeating BHT Bielsko in the all-Polish third-place play-off.
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Photo: Kolektiff