It was a spectacular opening ceremony in the Nuevo Leon Unido Arena with a parade of the Mexican military. IHF Council member Mario Garcia de la Torre opened the tournament on behalf of the International Handball Federation as the spectators enjoyed the ceremony for the occasion. The opening ceremony was followed by a parade of the athletes that were heartily welcomed by all the spectators in the Nuevo Leon Unido Arena.

 

 

Women's Competition:

Australia – DR Congo 12:22 (8:13)  

It was a very interesting opening match of the IHF Trophy in Monterrey, Mexico as Australia faced the winner of the African Continental Phase, the DR Congo. Even though many believed that the girls from Congo are a clear favorite in the game, the Aussies gave them a good fight to show their level of handball has significantly improved thanks to projects like the IHF Trophy.

 

DR Congo opened the game really well, and after 10 minutes it was already 3:7, but then Australia stabilized their game and it was played goal by goal until the end of the half, which ended 8:13 in favour of the African outfit.

 

The Australian team started the second half rather well, but after 10 minutes the quality of the team from Africa started to be visible. Their defence was tight and they proved to be especially dangerous in the fast breaks, which in the end decided the game.

 

The best scorer and best player for DR Congo was Julie Betu Mvita with 9 goals, while Madeleine McAfee led the scoring for the Australian team hitting the net 8 times. However, the best player on the court for Australia was the goalkeeper Kayla Zissler. With 11 saves she kept her team in play for the points for a long time.

 

Thailand – Canada 22:28 (12:16)

The junior teams of Canada and Thailand showed the spectators in Monterrey a really interesting game. Even though at the beginning the Canadian team seemed to be much better opening the game with 5:12 lead after 15 minutes, the girls from Thailand fought back and stayed in 3-4 goals distance until the end of the half.

 

In the second half, the game progressed in the same way, with both teams playing goal for goal. Neither Thailand could close the 3-4 goals gap, nor Canada could make a more significant goal difference. In the end Canada kept the lead and even increased it a little bit before the end to 22:28.

 

Even though Stephanie Grisse scored 10 times for Canada, and Wipaporn and Pawinee 5 goals for Thailand each, it was goalkeepers' day with Erika Valee (11 saves) of Canada and Thngkot Pakakan (17 saves) of Thailand picking up the player of the match award.

 

 

Men's Competition:

Nigeria – Mexico  23:25 (14:10)

The first match of the men’s competition proved to be very entertaining for the 1,000 spectators in the Nuevo Leon Unido Arena in Monterrey. The beginning promised a very even match. Up until the 25th minute, none of the teams had more than two goals difference, but then Nigeria took advantage of the slight drop of concentration in the Mexican team and scored 4 goals in a row, to make it 14:10 at half time - the highest advantage any of the teams had up to that point.

 

In the second half Mexico fought very hard to close down the gap, tightening their defence, which they finally did in the 49th minute leveling the score at 19:19 and forcing the Nigerian coach to call a time-out. The final ten minutes of the game were the most exciting of the tournament as every goal scored or a chance missed could be the difference between winning or losing. The home team proved to have better nerves in such handball and to the delight of the spectators won the game with 23:25.

 

Medina Abiel Villalobos was the best Mexican player scoring six times, while team play was the strongest Nigerian asset as 11 different players put their names on the scoresheet.

 

Moldova – Australia  37:17 (16:7)

It took 5 minutes for the first goal of the game, and five more for Moldova to find their game, but after this it was one way traffic as the European winner of the IHF Trophy took advantage of their height and almost decided the game by creating a nine goal margin in the first thirty minutes of the game.

 

In the second Moldova pressed even more, their defence worked remarkably, and using the fast breaks created by the excellent defence they kept increasing their lead to finally win the game with 37:17.

 

Andrei Nederita was the best Moldovan scorer marking 7 times, while James Ridley scored just as many for Australia.