The IHF Trophy - South and Central America finished yesterday in Asunción, Paraguay, with the youth and junior host teams both claiming gold medals and the continental championships – plus a ticket to the IHF Trophy - Intercontinental Phase. 

 

Following the first two competition days, Paraguay ended the group stages on Friday (3 November) of the youth tournament in top spot with three wins from three games and six points. Peru were second with four points, Costa Rica third with two and Guatemala bottom, on zero.

 

The junior group stages also ended on Friday, with Costa Rica finishing top with five points from three games – the same as Paraguay, but the host nation ended in second place due to a poorer goal difference (+6 instead of +13). Peru finished in third with two points and Guatemala bottom, having lost all three of their games.

 

The bottom two teams in each group went through to the bronze-medal matches held on Saturday and in what was a shock result, Guatemala won their first game of the championship in either the junior or youth competitions, beating Peru 22:18 to take the third place, while Costa Rica won bronze in the youth competition, beating Guatemala 22:18.

 

Yesterday saw the top two teams in each group play off for the gold medal and Paraguay took their first one of the day, beating Peru by five (28:23) in the youth final. The host nation led by three (10:7) at the break and despite eight goal from Peru’s Gabriel Nunez, it was enough for his side to make up the difference as Jorge Rojas and Jesus Zalazar (six each) led the scoring for the home team.

 

It was high drama in the final game of the continental tournament as the Paraguay junior (U20) men took a second gold medal for the home team – but they were made to work hard for it as the game went to additional time after the regulation 60 minutes ended 23:23.

 

The half-time break saw Paraguay lead by four (15:11), but the Costa Ricans fought back hard to win the second half 12:8 and take the game to the extra 10 minutes. However, despite eight goals from the game’s top-scorer Hugo Marchena, Costa Rica’s Greivin Munoz and his side had to settle for silver.

 

RESULTS

Participants: Costa Rica (CRC), Guatemala (GUA), Paraguay (PAR), Peru (PER)

 

Friday 2 November

 

Youth Competition

CRC vs GUA 26:16 (11:9)

PAR vs PER 37:30 (16:15)

 

Junior Competition

CRC vs GUA 26:16 (13:6)

PAR vs PER 28:23 (15:11)

 

Saturday 3 November

 

Youth Competition

3/4 Placement Match/Bronze – CRC vs GUA 22:18 (12:9)

 

Junior Competition

3/4 Placement Match/Bronze – PER vs GUA 18:22 (6:12)

 

Sunday 4 November

 

Youth Competition

1/2 Placement Match/Gold – PAR vs PER 28:23 (10:7)

 

Junior Competition

1/2 Placement Match/Gold – PAR vs CRC 28:26 (5:3, 23:23, 15:11)

 

Final Ranking

 

Youth Competition

1 GOLD – Paraguay (PAR)

2 SILVER – Peru (PER)

3 BRONZE – Costa Rica (CRC)

4 Guatemala (GUA)

 

Junior Competition

1 GOLD – Paraguay (PAR)

2 SILVER – Costa Rica (CRC)

3 BRONZE – Guatemala (GUA)

4 Peru (PER)

 

Photo: Paraguayan Handball Confederation