The Oceania Men’s Championships took place in New Zealand from 8-10 May. Australia secured the Oceania bid for the World Championships in Sweden next January by easily defeating both New Zealand and the Cook Islands twice. New Zealand took 2nd place with by beating the Cook Islands in both their head to head matchups.

Editor’s Note: In addition to two rival New Zealand Federations there now appears to be two rival Oceania Federations. The Oceania Handball Federation (OHF) was suspended by the IHF two years ago over a dispute with then President Vern Winitana. The recent championships were held by the Oceania Continent Handball Federation (OCHF) and according to the New Zealand Handball Federation this event was sanctioned by the IHF. It should be noted, however, that the IHF does not list either Oceania Federation on its Continental Federation Page and the new regulations proposed for the IHF included a 10 member nation requirement for the establishment of a Continental Federation. If approved this requirement would seem to preclude the establishment of an Oceania Federation.

OCHF Website: http://sites.google.com/a/ochf.org/ochf/
Oceania Website: http://www.oceaniahandball.org/

Competition Results.
Sat 8 May 2010
1030-1200 AUS vs CKI 41:13 (16:3)
1900-2030 AUS vs NZL 30:17 (17:7)

Sun 9 May 2010
1030-1200 NZL vs AUS 16:30 (6:15)
1900-2030 CKI vs NZL 21:36 (7:23)

Mon 10 May 2010
1130-1300 CKI vs AUS 7:46 (4:22)
2000-2130 NZL vs CKI 31:12 (17:5)