Colombia won the maiden IHF South and Central American Emerging Nations Men’s Championship on home court in Palmira late on Sunday (28) night, beating Paraguay in the final in the 30th match of the competition – their sixth straight win.
Leading 16:11 at half-time thanks to an 8:0 run from the 15-25th minutes, the Colombians breezed through the whole 60 minutes in total, leading throughout.
With 10 goals in the final, Colombia’s Daniel Esteban Gonzalez Castano ended as the top-scorer in the match for the gold medal, while Guillermo Benitez’s seven strikes for Paraguay made him the leading marksman for his side.
The bronze medal match was closer at half-time, with Peru leading Guatemala 14:13, but the Peruvians powered ahead in the last nine minutes of the second period, when they managed to regroup and, starting 23:21 down, scored six unanswered goals from the 51-57th minutes, going 27:23 up and eventually winning by five (29:24).
The final matchday also saw the 5-11 places decided with wins for French Guiana (against Honduras) and Costa Rica (against Ecuador) in the 5-8 placement round and Bolivia, against Panama, in the last match of the 9-11 placement round.
In his final match of the tournament, Ecuador’s Gerdy Elky Litardo Sosa’s eight strikes ensured he ended with 48 goals in total, to finish the tournament top-scorer, averaging eight goals a game with a 68% strike rate (48 goals from 71 attempts). Colombia’s Julian Alberto Villa Arango ended as the top goalkeeper with the most saves – 69 from 153 shots faced (45% save rate), averaging 11.5 saves per game. Colombia ended with the best scoring record (219 goals) and best defensive record (112 conceded).
Final Day Results
Sunday 28 October
Final: COL vs PAR 36:25 (16:11)
Bronze: PER vs GUA 29:24 (14:13)
5/6 Placement: ECU vs CRC 24:35 (13:14)
7/8 Placement: HON vs GUF 23:40 (10:19)
Placement Round 9-11: PAN vs BOL 21:38 (11:19)
Final Ranking
1 – Gold: Colombia (COL)
2 – Silver: Paraguay (PAR)
3 – Bronze: Peru (PER)
4 – Guatemala (GUA)
5 – Costa Rica (CRC)
6 – Ecuador (ECU)
7 – French Guiana (GUF)
8 – Honduras (HON)
9 – El Salvador (ESA)
10 – Bolivia (BOL)
11 – Panama (PAN)
For in-depth statistics and all match report PDFs click HERE