Team Blue Bee and LX50 Handball clinch titles in Sicily
After four days of action on the sand at the European Beach Tour finals in Sicily, the medals were decided in the men's and women's competitions on Sunday afternoon.
On the final day of the ebt Finals 2022 in Sicily, Team Blue Bee - The Danish Beachhandball Dream clinched the title in the women's competition and LX50 Handball triumphed in the men's competition.
Team Blue Bee beat GRD Leça - Love Tiles 2:0 in the women's final (22:16, 25:22), while LX50 Handball also won in straight sets in the all-Portuguese men's final (20:14, 22:13) against GRD Leça - SPAR.
- Team Blue Bee from Denmark beat Italy’s Blue Team in straight sets in the first semi-final of the women’s competition, 22:21 and 15:12, as Line Kristensen registered 15 points
- Rita Alves scored 25 points for GRD Leça - Love Tiles as they booked their place in the women’s final with a 2:0 victory over defending champions GEA A.M. Team Almeria (27:26, 23:18) in the second semi-final
- in the first men’s semi-final, LX50 Handball from Portugal won a hard-fought first set against Camelot Handball Tilburg, 19:18. Brazilian Matheus Victor finished the match with 20 points as LX50 Handball progressed to the final after winning the second set in more comfortable fashion, 25:14
- after splitting the first two sets with CBMP Ciudad de Malaga in the second men's semi-final, GRD Leça – SPAR claimed a 9:8 shoot-out victory to set up an all-Portuguese final
- although Rita Alves (GRD Leça - Love Tiles) and Cecilie Lindgaard (Team Blue Bee) both scored 20 points in the women's final, Team Blue Bee were in control throughout and clinched the title with their second straight sets win on Sunday
- four players – Matheus Victor, Rhuan Marchette, Pedro Pinto and Aldrin Oliveira – scored 10 points each for LX50 Handball in the men's final against GRD Leça - SPAR
- Spanish sides GEA A.M. Team Almeria and CBMP Ciudad de Malaga both finished third after winning their respective third-place matches against the Blue Team and Camelot Handball Tilburg
Team Blue Bee thwart Portuguese double
Ahead of the two finals in Sicily, at least one ebt Finals title was heading back to Portugal. But hopes of a Portuguese double on the beach on Sunday were dashed when Team Blue Bee denied GRD Leça - Love Tiles in the women's final.
While Rita Alves finished as the top scorer in the women's event, Team Blue Bee's Cecilie Lindgaard crucially matched her total of 20 points in the final.
Although Thomas Robben earned top scorer honours in the men's event, Camelot Handball Tilburg could only finish in fourth place as CBMP Ciudad de Malaga completed the podium behind the two Portuguese sides.
Copyright belongs to Kolektiff Images for all photos used in this article.
