As expected Cuba dominated the tournament, winning all four of their matches by an average of 16 goals. Canada also had a good tournament, securing 2nd place with 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were level on points at 3 a piece, but the Dominican Republic takes third place by virtue of their 35-31 victory over Puerto Rico on the last match day. The top scorer for the tournament was Joseph Aska of Puerto Rico with 33 goals. The best goalkeeper of the tournament was Misaiel Iglesias of Cuba.
Next June’s Championship field is now set as Cuba, Canada and the Dominican Republic will join Brazil, Argentina, USA, Uruguay and Chile. Based on recent performances Brazil, Argentina and Cuba should be favorites to finish in the top 3 places that will award a ticket to the World Championships in Croatia. As reported earlier off court factors, however, might change the final composition of the field. The Cuban government may decide to forego sending a team to play on USA soil where USA law makes it very easy for Cubans to defect and acquire USA residency. Should that happen, Puerto Rico would advance to the Championship. The other factor is Greenlands membership status. If Greenland are reinstated as a full PATHF member the PATHF may decide to keep the field at 8 teams and have only two teams advance from the Div 1 Championship.
Match Results
Monday, 5 November 07
Canada – Puerto Rico 27:27 (13:13)
Cuba – Mexico 44:23 (21:07)
Tuesday, 6 November 07
Dominican Republic – Canada 19:25 (9:15)
Mexico – Puerto Rico 29:35 (16:18)
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Dominican Republic – Mexico 34 -34 (18:18)
Cuba – Puerto Rico 35 -20 (20:08)
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Canada – Mexico 31:20 (14:11)
Cuba – Dominican Republic 31:20 (17:11)
Friday, 9 November 07
Puerto Rico – Dominican Republic 31:35 (18:18)
Cuba – Canada 31:13 (13:5)
Team W D L Pts GF GA GD
Cuba 4 0 0 8 141 74 +67
Canada 2 1 1 0 5 96-97 -1
Dominican Republic 1 1 2 3 10 120 -11
Puerto Rico 1 1 2 3 103 126 -23
Mexico 0 1 3 1 97 134 -37
Cuban Newspaper Article: http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/deportes/2007-11-10/ganan-los-cubanos-el-campeonato-panamericano-de-balonmano/