The Cuban team defeated this Saturday the host of Costa Rica with a score of 46 goals to 36, and won the Junior version of the Intercontinental Trophy of the International Federation of Handballheld at the BN Arena in the city of San José.
The team from the island appeared somewhat anxious before the locals, but little by little they took control of the game before reaching the break with an eight-drill advantage, according to the report from the Prensa Latina (PL) agency.
Cuba won Intercontinental Junior of #Handball
They defeated Costa Rica and became champion of the tournament. #Handball https://t.co/AIJn2uBBl0 pic.twitter.com/diP2LElvdA— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) March 12, 2023
The trophy was for the best team in the tournament, held with a round-robin system. In the end, the success of the Cubans led to a three-way tie with the representations of Guinea and the United Kingdom, all with a balance of three successes and one setback.
However, the established tie-break formula, which weights the location according to the difference in goals for and against, benefited the Cuban team, escorted on the podium by Guineans and British, in that order, according to the source.
Cuba debuted with a defeat against the African team, and then consecutively beat their counterparts from Australia, the United Kingdom and Costa Rica.
The 19-year-old Cuban Maikol Vázquez was chosen the best player in the challenge against Costa Rica after scoring 11 goals, while his teammates Indro González and Ronaldo Almeida scored eight each.
The president of the Cuban Handball Federation, Franklyn Guevara, expressed satisfaction with the result to PL, but pointed out that some matches revealed flaws that must be “eradicated with a view to the World Cup and the Central American and Caribbean Games.” Many of the members of this team will represent Cuba in this regional multi-sport event.
In addition, he announced that next March 21 will begin the preparation of the team that will represent Cuba in the World Cup event of the category, which will mark the first presentation of the island in those competitions.
Meanwhile, in the youth category, Guadalupe won first place, followed by Georgia and Nigeria, the publication specifies. Behind were the formations of Nicaragua and Tahiti.
Remember PL that both Cuba and Costa Rica have qualified for the World Junior Men’s Handball Championship, which will be shared between Germany and Greece next June.
