Junior (U21) Competition: Saturday 13 April
Chinese Taipei’s junior side made it a day of double celebration for the Asian island nation with a five-goal victory over USA to follow their U19 side into the final of the 2018-19 IHF Men’s Trophy Intercontinental Phase tomorrow.
They will face Kosovo in the gold medal match after the host nation defeated Paraguay clearly in the evening game.
Nigeria took fifth spot, beating Australia in the early game.
Semi-Final: United States of America vs Chinese Taipei 36:41 (14:21)
Fans of defence may not have enjoyed this encounter which saw 77 goals scored - including 42 in the second half - but for Chinese Taipei they did not care about letting in so many as they scored enough to book their final spot.
By the 15th minute Taipei led by five (9:4) and a 10-goal difference was reached 10 minutes later (19:9) but, despite a half-time deficit of seven (21:14), the USA came back, led Amar Amitovic as he single-handedly reduced the Taipei lead to four (26:22) with three goals in a row leading up to the 40th minute.
But the North American side could not make the last breakthrough, despite Asaf Bengozi bringing it within two in the 52nd minute (33:31).
"Our players performed good," said Chinese Taipei head coach Su Ta Chih to IHF.info after the match. "However, we had a very short time to prepare for this event, just 10 days training together. So, it’s a very short time, maybe our players have some trouble performing in this match, but they managed to change their mind to fit the tempo."
Amitovic and Bengozi both scored 10 for America while Ting-Yue Jou grabbed nine for Chinese Taipei.
Semi-Final: Kosovo vs Paraguay 36:27 (19:14)
The U21 host side knew they had to do all they could to make it through to the final after their U19 side had lost out in their semi-final earlier, but they got off to a slow start - finding themselves 4:1 down after five minutes.
It may have been tempting to take a time-out at this time but Kosovo coach Fatmir Muhaxheri opted for his players to work it out on court and they did: bringing it all-square in the eighth minute (5:5) and when the home team went ahead moments later (7:6), it was time for Paraguay coach Victor Figueredo Trigo to take a time-out.
For just under the next 10 minutes the game was even but Kosovo broke away for good with a 5:0 run (16:11), putting them up in the 25th minute. Half-time came and went and Paraguay could not catch their opponents, who opened a 10-goal lead with a minute remaining (36:26).
"It’s fantastic to get to the final,” said Kosovo’s Drenit Tahirukaj. “Since the beginning of this tournament we thought we would reach the final, but I still have a lot more to improve personally - I need more self-confidence with shooting, for example.
“Our fans are really important for us – they are the eighth player. Our squad is like our family – we have been together for five years, so we know what we do wrong and what we do good.”
Lulzim Shabani top-scored with seven goals from seven attempts for Kosovo, while Diego Melgarejo scored 10 goals for the Paraguayans.
5/6 Placement Match: Nigeria vs Australia 37:21 (20:9)
Nigeria got over their disappointment of not making the semi-finals, dispatching Australia by 16 goals in the final match of Kosovo 2019 at the 1st of October hall in Pristina.
At half-time, they were 20:9 up and in the end featured 11 different scorers, with Abdullahi Ataboh top-scoring on eight strikes in total.
The second half was closer - and better - for Australia but the damage had been done as they could only manage 44 shots on goal in the match.
Photo: Shpend Ahmeti/Kosovo Handball Federation