One more competition cycle comes to an end, and for the first time ever in the history of this IHF Competition we have a winner that is not from Europe.
Faroe Islands were the winners in the men’s competition. From day one, they have been favorite and their performance over the five days tournament proved the predictions to be correct. They have won all their matches in a convincing manner, with Cabo Verde being their toughest opponent. In a game that was a factual final, the team from the North Atlantic Ocean, managed to beat their opponents from the South Atlantic narrowly 27:24 and thus secure the IHF InterContinental Trophy for the first time. Cabo Verde came in second but losing two games. Besides losing to eventual winners Faroe Islands, Cabo Verde surprisingly lost against Tahiti on match day 2, but was convincing against Colombia and Uzbekistan. The bronze medal goes to Colombia while Uzbekistan stays fourth, just like in Mexico two years ago. Tahiti was last, but they have shown great spirit and recorded a victory against Cabo Verde, the first one in the history of the competition for a team from Oceania. The best scorer in the men’s competition was Sebastian Lamirault from Colombia scoring 37 goals over four games.
In the women’s competition we had a non-European winner for the very first time. Guadeloupe was convincing in all their games and opened the tournament with a huge 26:22 victory against host and organizer Bulgaria which paved the way for them to win the event. The other three teams were not on the level on the team from the Caribbean and three easy victories were recorded. Bulgaria, defending champion from Mexico came in second, but they had to work really hard as Uzbekistan put them on a stern test in a match which was to decide the silver medal winner. After losing one goal on half time Bulgaria turned the game and won narrowly 32:28 securing the 2nd place and sending Uzbekistan to third. Senegal was ranked on the fourth position as their only victory came against New Zealand who finished last being defeated in all their games. The best scorer in the women’s Competition was Lora Sarandeva from Bulgaria with a total of 34 goals.
It is worth mentioning that the best referees throughout the competition cycle on all continents participated on the Inter Continental Phase and Mr. Sandor Andorka (HUN), IHF PRC lecturer was in charge of their education during the tournament as part of the courses for referees in the IHF Trophy project.
The IHF Trophy continues in the competition cycle 2016/2017 with players born 1996 and younger in the men’s competition and players born 1997 and younger in the women’s competition.