The Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) Junior Women’s Championships took place this past week in Buenos Aires. Argentina beat Brazil for the gold medal 30-26 while the Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico, 36-26 for the bronze. All four teams, however, qualified for the Junior World Championships this summer in South Korea.

Final Standings
1) Argentina
2) Brazil
3) Dominican Republic
4) Puerto Rico
5) Uruguay
6) Mexico
7) Chile
8 ) Greenland

Commentary: If Puerto Rico can qualify for the Junior World Championship it’s not a stretch to think that the U.S. could have had a decent shot at qualifying for this event too. Not to beat a broken record here, but USA Team Handball is really missing the boat with their all the eggs in the basket focus on the possibility of a North American Handball Federation (NAHF) being approved by the IHF later this month. Certainly, 4 potential members of the NAHF (Greenland, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico) chose to participate in PATHF qualification events. This would have been a great experience for Under 20 players in the U.S. as evidenced by the atmosphere shown in the youtube video of the final.

PATHF: Junior Women’s Final Results: http://www.panamhandball.org/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showPlan&mode=1&p=12&Itemid=29

VIDEO: Youtube of last minutes of Gold Medal match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dNGwrtYvy8&feature=player_embedded

THN (26 Nov 09): Another PATHF Tournament in Costa Rica: Where are the Americans?: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.888