The last five games of the preliminary round on matchday three of the IHF South and Central American Emerging Nations Men’s Championship saw the quarter-final teams confirmed in Palmira, Colombia.

With their 35:24 group B win over Ecuador in their final preliminary round match yesterday, host nation Colombia confirmed their place in the quarter-finals which take place tomorrow (Friday 26 October) following a rest day today. The home side saw Santiago Mosquera Mayo end with seven goals in the match – making him the third different top scorer in three matchdays for the Colombians.

The other group B encounter saw Honduras beat El Salvador to confirm their last eight place and consign their opponents to the 9-11 placement round after they lost their third of three matches.

With Panama already out of contention in the three-team group A, the match between Paraguay and Costa Rica was to decide the group winners and it was a tight affair, eventually won by the Central American team 35:32 as Freddy Steven Obando Vargas (8 goals) and Jose Garardo Hidalgo Obregon (7) formed a lethal deadly duo in front of goal.

Group C was the tightest of all three groups as French Guiana made it three wins out of three, beating Bolivia 37:21 to qualify through, helped by seven goals from Leeroy Eli. For Bolivia, it means they are out of contention and go through to the 9-11 placement round after losing their third successive game.

In the battle for second place in the group, Peru squeezed past Guatemala 27:26 after the two teams were deadlocked 11:11 at the break. Both sides had gone into the match with one win and one loss.

Today is a rest day for the teams, before action resumes on Friday (26 October) with the first of the 9-11 placement matches and four quarter-finals.

All 30 of the games from South America will be streamed live via the Colombian Handball Federation YouTube site HERE.

Teams in Colombia include Paraguay (PAR), Costa Rica (CRC), Panama (PAN), Colombia (COL), Ecuador (ECU), El Salvador (ESA), Honduras (HON), Guatemala (GUA), Peru (PER), French Guiana (GUF) and Bolivia (BOL).

PAN-CRC (A) 12:63 (5:27)

ECU-ESA (B) 41:30 (19:17)

COL-HON (B) 36:13 (21:5)

GUA-BOL (C) 35:10 (16:5)

PER-GUF (C) 16:25 (9:13)

HON-ECU (B) 25:44 (21:21)

GUF-GUA (C) 28:21 (12:10)

BOL-PER (C) 21:31 (5:17)

ESA-COL (B) 13:42 (10:19)

PAR-PAN (A) 50:18 (24:7)

ESA-HON (B) 22:34 (8:13)

PAR-CRC (A) 32:35 (15:18)

GUF-BOL (C) 37:21 (18:7)

COL-ECU (B) 35:24 (20:16)

GUA-PER (C) 26:27 (11:11)

10:00 Placement Round 9-11

12:00 Quarter-Final 1

14:00 Quarter-Final 2

16:00 Quarter-Final 3

18:00 Quarter-Final 4

10:00 Placement Round 9-11

12:00 Placement Round 5-8

14:00 Placement Round 5-8

16:00 Semi-Final 1

18:00 Semi-Final 2

10:00 Placement Round 9-11

12:00 Placement Round 5-8

14:00 Placement Round 5-8

16:00 Bronze Medal/Placement Match 3-4

18:00 Gold Medal/Placement Match 1-2

The IHF Emerging Nations Championship is for players aged 16-24 years old and builds on the success of the first two IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championships held in Kosovo (2015) and Bulgaria (2017) which focussed on nations from the European Handball Federation who are part of the IHF’s ‘Four-Year Plan’.