Already when the tournament was halfway through, Miguel Roca Mas brought joy to the hosts with his evaluation. “We are experiencing a great World Championship,” as the 1^st Vice President of the International Handball Federation praised the Argentine organizers. Mario Moccia, President of the Argentine Handball Federation announced: “We are proud to welcome the handball world in Argentina.”

Moccia had actually every reason to be proud. For the second time after 1995 the Argentine federation hosted a world championship. While the people involved had complained about organizational problems 16 years ago, this time especially the teams expressed their satisfaction with the course of the competition. Also the popularity among the audience proved the host right. More than 35,000 spectators visited the preliminary round games alone, whereas 45,000 handball fans attended the matches in total. Even TV stations from Africa, Asia and the host country itself were interested in the (in total) 64 matches of the 20 participating teams.

These teams proved that the handball world has been moving closer together also in the youth field. While in 2005 huge differences in the performance level of the so-called top teams and the other participants were obvious, those differences have more and more reduced during the last WCh tournaments. This development continued in Argentina as well. Close results were prevailing, and no favourite could really feel confident. Already the preliminary round was marked by some incredibly exciting duels; in Group A alone the involved teams achieved four draws.

“We noticed that the physical training of the players in this age group has made further progress; the individual skills have increased, and many teams gave evidence of a continuous training from the senior field up to the youth field in this age group,” as Dietrich Späte concluded, who analysed the title contests in Mar del Plata on behalf of the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods. His Hungarian colleague Zoltan Marczinka added: “This competition didn’t have a real star, but many talents, especially on the key positions.”

Speaking of continuity, maybe it just happened by accident that exactly the same four nations fought for the medals, who had already reached the semi-final of the Men’s WCh in Sweden. It is however no secret that Denmark, France, Spain and Sweden are doing a good job – and consistently, from the promotion of the youth up to the national team.

The IV Men’s Youth WCh in Argentina also set new examples with regard to the fight against doping. By means of an action appealing to the audience – the youth players threw balls marked “Say no to doping” into the audience prior to the finals – the International Handball Federation proved that their offensive fight against doping will continue.

In terms of sports Denmark was a length ahead in the final, Spain won Silver, and Sweden took Bronze. France had to put up with the unpopular fourth place. Nevertheless, after the final whistle, all participants agreed with Egypt’s coach Magdy abu el Magd who said: “We felt right at home.”