From 1 to 6
November, the picturesque city of Sucre in Bolivia hosted the South American
Zone tournament of the IHF Trophy. Six nations competed against each other for
a place at the Continental Phase with Colombia taking the spoils in both the
men’s and women’s competition.
In both
competitions hosts Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela played
against each other in a round robin. In the men’s competition, an additional
country was represented: due to the fact that women’s handball is developed in
Paraguay to the extent that they even participated in women’s world
championships, only their men’s team competed in the tournament.
In the
women’s competition Colombia were the dominant team, convincingly winning all
four of their games, with Venezuela coming closest to be able to challenge them
in a match that ended 32:19 (14:5). In the match which would determine the
runners-up of the tournament, Venezuela beat Peru 28:22 (12:7). Ecuador
finished fourth while hosts and organisers Bolivia ranked fifth in the end.
The men’s
competition was a tighter affair, as Colombia, who are the defending
Continental Champions from the last cycle had to overcome Venezuela, who are
always strong in this age category, and Paraguay, who are getting stronger cycle
after cycle in the men’s competition. First Colombia beat Paraguay 28:25 after trailing
by two at the half-time (12:14), and took the pole position in the race with
the best teams of the zone. They also managed to win their match against
Venezuela 33:31, again after trailing at half-time 17:18. Venezuela,
disappointed after this result, lost the next game to Paraguay surprisingly clearly
24:38 and took bronze as Paraguay won the silver medal. Ecuador came in fourth
in the end, Peru finished fifth and hosts Bolivia sixth.
The South
American Zone of the IHF Trophy was the first IHF tournament on Bolivian soil
ever. Besides the competition, as it is common practice at the IHF Trophy, the
International Handball Federation organised courses for referees and coaches
during the event. Mr Javier Moure (ESP) was in charge of the course for the
referees while the course for coaches was held by Mr Wolfgang Lowak (GER).
Full
results and the ranking summary can be found by clicking on the following link: