The Pan American champions Argentina started off with the right foot as they showed their authority to defeat Paraguay 2:0 (18:11 and 17:4). In the same group, the Hungarian claimed the points in the European contest versus Croatia. They lost the first set 9:13, won the second 10:6 and celebrated the 5:4 result in the shoot-out.

Promising games are scheduled for tomorrow as Argentina will play Croatia in the morning and Hungary in the afternoon. The Hungarians will also face Paraguay, while the ‘Guarani’ team will close the preliminary round in front of the Croatians.

In a Group B with only two teams after the withdrawals of Brazil and Togo, the Netherlands beat Chinese Taipei 2:0 (20:9 and 19:9). They now have to wait for the following round of the Mauritius 2017 World Championship, aiming for a Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games ticket.

Both Thailand and China ended the first day with a smile after their victories over Venezuela. Thailand won 16:14 and 16:12, while the result in favour of the Chinese side was 16:12 and 15:13. Mauritius didn’t present their team versus China and therefore lost the game 0:2 (0:10, 0:10). 

Tomorrow Venezuela will play the hosts Mauritius, who will also face Thailand. The Thai still have to take on China in an attractive encounter.

Spain and Portugal want to make their way to the 2018 Youth Olympics and they made an impeccable start to their World Championship campaigns. Spain defeated American Samoa 2:0 (24:5 and 26:7) and Australia by the same result (19:6 and 23:0). Portugal also claimed two-sets victories versus American Samoa (21:8 and 21:5) and the Aussies (27:3 and 20:2).

The neighbours Spain and Portugal will meet tomorrow looking for the top rank of the group, as Australia and American Samoa will be seeking for their first win.