Dear handball friends from the Dominican Republic and all over the word, dear guests. It’s a great pleasure to see the world’s best Women’s Youth teams playing for the World Champion for the third time in IHF’s history. After successful competitions in Canada 2006 and Slovakia 2008 now all of you meet in the Dominican Republic. This tournament is the first ever IHF WCH competition in the Caribbean Sea. Handball in Dominican Republic is improving, even as it’s a hard struggle against traditional sports like baseball, boxing or football. But the federation found their way to popularise our sports. One highlight was the first ever qualification of the Dominican women for the World Championship 2007 in France, as they finally ranked 22nd. Now it’s the first time for the younger age category of the WCH host to compete against the strongest teams of the world. I wish the participating teams from the five continents, all best of luck under the fair play motto. Dr Hassan Moustafa IHF Presiden