Brazil and Cuba advanced with no problems in yesterday’s semifinals. Brazil demolished the Dominican Republic 46-13 and Cuba beat Argentina 37-25. Cuba was led by Wing Ayling Martinez who was a perfect 13 for 13 from the field. Cuba and Brazil will meet on Saturday for the Gold Medal and automatic qualification for the 2008 Olympics. The runner-up will still have a chance to go to the Olympics and will participate in a qualifying tournament next year at a TBD location. In consolation round play Canada got the first win of the tournament with a 26-22 victory over Paraguay. They will get a chance on Saturday in the 5th place game to avenge their earlier defeat to Mexico.

Men’s Semifinals. As expected the Men’s semifinal matches today will pit Brazil vs Uruguay and Argentina vs Cuba.

Men’s Final Group Standings:
www.rio2007.org.br/Nav/RES/ENG/HB/results/HB_400000_M_results_summary.html

Side Note: The Argentine Women would be hard pressed to blame their loss to Cuba on the officiating. The match officials were the top French pair (Bord/Buy). They are one of the top pairs in the world and have officiated many top competitions including the Men’s final at World Championships in Germany.

Brazil Women Challenged by Cuba: Brazil defeated Cuba to secure 1st place in Group B, but Brazil did not coast to an easy double digit victory as they had in previous contests. Cuba got 9 goals a piece from backcourt players Arassay Duran and Suleiky Gomez and kept the game respectable for a final score of 32 to 28. Duran was particularly impressive with 7 of 9 shooting from 9 meters. In Group A, Argentina defeated the Dominican Republic 26-15 to take first place. Argentina will therefore take on Cuba in the Semifinals while Brazil will play the Dominican Republic. In the lower half of the pool Canada’s woes continued with a 23-20 loss to Mexico.

Women’s Standings: www.rio2007.org.br/Nav/RES/ENG/HB/results/HB_400000_W_results_summary.html

Men’s Competition Day 2: Argentina stayed undefeated in Group A with an easy 35-16 victory over Uruguay while the Dominican Republic beat Mexico 35-21. Argentina has qualified for the Semi-finals and Uruguay will qualify if they can beat winless Mexico on Wednesday. In Group B both Brazil and Cuba cruised to easy victories over Canada and Chile respectively. They will play each other on Wednesday with the winner likely getting to avoid Argentina in the Semi-Finals.

Men’s Standings:
www.rio2007.org.br/Nav/RES/ENG/HB/results/HB_400000_M_results_summary.html

Defection Update: According to news reports, http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/6217431.html http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/83141.html Cuban player Rafael Dacosta took a cab to Sao Paulo's where he hoped to join the club team Imes/Santa Maria/Sao Caetano, where another Cuban, Michel Ovedo, plays. Because the team already has 2 foreign players, the Brazilian League maximum, the club, however is not interested in his services.

Commentary: The two leading scorers for Cuba in their match against Brazil, Arassay Duran and Suleiky Gomez are young, (21 and 22 years old) and tall, (5 Feet 11 inches and 5 ft, 10 in). These two athletes are home grown talents that have not played much outside of Cuba and yet they were able to scorch the nets for 18 goals against Brazilian athletes that are playing important roles on top club teams in Europe. Makes you wonder how good they could be if they were playing in Europe. Makes you also wonder if they might be wondering the same thing. Note to Cuban Delegation: Keep an eye on your players.

Athlete Profile: Duran http://www.rio2007.org.br/WWW/ENG/BIO/ATH/102127.html
Athlete Profile: Gomez http://www.rio2007.org.br/WWW/ENG/BIO/ATH/102070.html

According to news reports, Cuban Men’s Team Handball player, Rafael Dacosta has defected. The 19 year old Right Back has been missing for several days and did not participate in Cuba’s first game against Canada.

Commentary: This isn’t the first time that Cuban Handball athletes have defected at international competition. Last year at the Central American and Caribbean Games 3 Handball players defected. In fact, I speculated that the Cuban team might not participate in the Pan American games due to fears of further defections. It will be interesting to see if there are any more in Rio. Additionally, it’s probably safe to say that Team Cuba will not participate in next year’s Men’s Pan American Championships if it is held in the USA. As USA laws make it very easy for Cubans to defect, they will be reluctant to let athletes step foot on USA soil.

Official Pan Am Athlete profile: www.rio2007.org.br/WWW/ENG/BIO/ATH/102138.html
Associate Press Article: http://www.nbcsports.com/sports/1782682/detail.html
Earlier THN Article on Cuban Defections: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.122

Women’s Semi-Finalists Confirmed: Brazil overwhelmed Canada 21-3 in the first half Sunday, to coast to a 37-10 victory. They will meet Cuba, who has also qualified for the semifinals on Tuesday to determine Group B supremacy. Argentina and the Dominican Republic have also qualified and will also play each other on Tuesday in Group A

Women’s Standings: www.rio2007.org.br/Nav/RES/ENG/HB/results/HB_400000_W_results_summary.html

Men’s Competition Day 1: Cuba crushed Team Canada’s hopes of advancing with a convincing 33-20 victory. Brazil also took care of Chile by the same score. Argentina demolished Mexico 40-16 and Uruguay edged the Dominican Republic 29-26 to put them in good shape to qualify for the semifinals.

Men’s Standings:
www.rio2007.org.br/Nav/RES/ENG/HB/results/HB_400000_M_results_summary.html

The Pan-American Games Handball competition started yesterday with Women’s Group matches. As expected Brazil, Argentina, and Cuba coasted to easy victories, while the Dominican Republic edged Paraguay 33-30. Those four winners are now the likely semifinalists that will come out of Group Play.

The Men’s Competition will start today. Team Canada will face a stiff test against Cuba and will likely need a victory to move on to the semifinals.

The winner of the Men’s and Women’s competition, respectively, will qualify for the 2008 Olympics. The 2nd place teams will earn a spot in an Olympics qualification tournament next spring.

Official Pan-American Games Website (Homepage): http://www.rio2007.org.br
Official Pan-American Games Website (Handball Page):
http://www.rio2007.org.br/data/pages/8A488A8F12D856280112D877123A6F2D.htm

(Note: More news articles on handball are available in the Spanish and Portuguese language version of the website.)

This article from the San Antonio Express-News highlights some of the politics behind San Antonio’s failed bid to host the 2007 PANAM Games. The article also discusses Rio’s staging of the current games and its desire to use it as a showcase in support of their bid for the 2016 Olympics. Additionally, the leaders of San Antonio’s failed bid for the 2007 games indicate that San Antonio might consider bidding for the 2015 games as long as they don’t have to compete against another US city and the Pan American Sports Organization allows them to run unopposed for final selection by the delegates, similar to Guadalajara’s 2011 selection. https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.103

Commentary: While the Pan Am Games is a minor event for many sports, it is a very important for Team Handball as the Gold Medal winner secures the one guaranteed Pan American slot for the Olympics. A lot can happen in 8 years time and the IHF could try and change the qualification rules again. For those out there that don’t think the US can turn things around its Handball program in four years, hosting this critical tournament in eight could secure USA qualification for 2016. Of course, if Chicago is selected to host then the USA would be in by default.

San Antonio Express-News Article: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA061907.1D.PanAmGames.folo.39cd438.html

Brazil again showed their PATHF dominance with another gold medal. Argentina took second and the Dominican Republic took third. Paraguay will join those three nations at the World Championship this December in France. Canada, USA, and Mexico had disappointing results, finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively.

Results and statistics are available at the PATHF website: www.panamhandball.net
http://www.panamhandball.net/RESULTADOS_PAN_SENIOR_FEM_073.doc

Surprising Paraguay joined Brazil in qualifying for the World Championships by holding the USA to a tie. They join Argentina and the host Dominican Republic from Group A. How surprising is Paraguay´s performance. Consider that their program had not participated in any recent tournaments until last year´s South American Championships. https://teamhandballnews.com/comment-n193.html

Group A
ARG 17 – 21 URU
DOM 26 – 19 MEX

Group B
USA 23 – 23 PAR
BRA 37 – 17 CAN

Group A (Final Standings)
ARG 2 0 1 4 Pts 65:57 +8
DOM 2 0 1 4 Pts 75:71 +4
URU 1 1 1 3 Pts 69:66 +3
MEX 0 1 2 1 Pts 55:70 -15

Group B (Final Standings)
BRA 3 0 0 6 Pts 124:40 +84
PAR 1 1 1 3 Pts 58:88 -30
CAN 1 0 2 2 Pts 66:89 -23
USA 0 1 2 1 Pts 63:94 -31

Semifinal Matchups
Brazil vs Dominican Republic
Argentina vs Paraguay

Consolation Semifinals
Uruguay vs USA
Canada vs Mexico

[b]Group A [/b]

Argentina has qualified for the semifinals. If Argentina beats Uruguay: Dominican Republic qualifies if they tie or beat Mexico. Mexico qualifies if they beat the Dominican Republic.

Uruguay must beat Argentina in order to qualify and then have Mexico beat the Dominican Republic

[b]Group B[/b]
Brazil has essentially qualified as they would have to lose by 36 to Canada to finish in 3rd place. Paraguay will qualify with a win or a tie vs. the United States. In the event of a USA victory , Paraguay, Canada and the USA will be level on points. The next applicable tie breaker will be head to head goal differential. The current standings for this is:

Paraguay 1 0 0 2pts 23 18 +5
Canada 1 0 1 2pts 49 52 -3
USA 0 0 1 0pts 29 31 -2

The USA can qualify if they beat Paraguay by 4 goals. Paraguay will qualify if they lose by 3 goals or less. Canada is eliminated in this scenario as they are locked in at -3 goal differential. Canada’s only hope to qualify therefore is a victory over unbeaten Brazil and then a USA victory or a draw against Paraguay.

[b]Group A[/b]
Argentina 20, Mexico 12
Dominican Republic 25, Uruguay 24
[b]
Group B[/b]
Canada 31, USA 29
Brazil 47, Paraguay 12

[b]Standings[/b]

[b]Group A[/b]
Nation W D L Points GF GA GD
Argentina 1 0 0 2Pts 20 12 +8
Dominican Republic 1 0 0 2Pts 25 24 +1
Uruguay 0 0 1 0Pts 24 25 -1
Mexico 0 0 1 0 0Pts 12 20 -8

[b]Group B[/b]
Brazil 1 0 0 2Pts 47 12 +35
Canada 1 0 0 2Pts 31 29 +2
USA 0 0 1 0Pts 29 31 -2
Paraguay 0 0 1 0 Pts 12 47 -35

The 2007 Women’s Pan American Championships will start this Thursday, 31 May, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Courtesy of Brazil’s 7th place finish at the last World Championships, four teams will qualify for the World Championships this December in France. Eight teams will be participating and they have been divided into two groups of four.

Group A: Argentina, Uruguay, Dominican Republic and Mexico (Mexico is a late replacement for Puerto Rico)
Group B: Brazil, Canada, USA and Paraguay

Each group will play a round robin, with the top 2 teams advancing to the semifinals. As these four teams will qualify for the World Championships these group play games will be critical.

[b]Schedule[/b] (Note: Santo Domingo is on the same time as the US East Coast)

[b]Thursday, 31 May [/b]
1400 Canada vs. USA
1600 Argentina vs. Mexico
1800 Brazil vs. Paraguay
2000 Uruguay vs. Dominican Republic

[b]Friday, 1 June[/b]
1400 Canada vs. Paraguay
1600 Mexico vs. Uruguay
1800 Brazil vs. USA
2000 Dominican Republic vs. Argentina

[b]Saturday, 2 June [/b]
1400 Paraguay vs. USA
1600 Argentina vs. Uruguay
1800 Brazil vs. Canada
2000 Dominican Republic vs. Mexico

[b]Sunday, 3 June[/b]
1400 3A vs. 4B
1600 4A vs. 3B
1800 1A vs. 2B
2000 1B vs. 2A

[b]Monday, 4 June[/b]
1400 7th Place
1600 5th Place
1800 3rd Place
2000 1st Place

Analysis: For Group A, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, with their home court advantage, will be favored to advance. In Group B, Brazil is an overwhelming favorite and Canada should have the edge over the USA and Paraguay. The first game of the tournament Canada vs. USA, will be pivotal for those two rivals. Canada has dominated the USA recently, but the USA’s victory in the USA cup last summer shows that they can beat Canada with a good performance.

As previously reported, https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.312 https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.306 Greenland recently had it’s PATHF membership status downgraded from full member to associate member. At the IHF Congress in Madrid, Greenland representatives discussed their status with the IHF and received verbal support indicating that a reversal was possible and that the IHF was dissatisfied with the way the PATHF had handled the matter. Of particular note, were 2 scheduled meetings in Madrid to discuss the matter in which PATHF representatives did not show.

Greenland has now put forward two cases for arbitration with the IHF. One case asks that full membership status be restored while the other seeks to allow Greenland a chance to qualify for the upcoming Junior World Championships in Macedonia this summer. Greenland has also asked for the IHF to arrange a meeting with Greenland, IHF, PATHF Board, and any PATHF countries with concerns regarding Greenland’s membership status to address any misunderstandings and to move forward with the development of the sport in the Panam region.

While there is a good chance Greenland will get full membership restored, time and practicality will make it difficult for Greenland to get a chance to qualify for the Junior Worlds, as seeding has already been determined and a last minute tournament would be complicated. According to correspondence with the Greenland Federation the Panam region actually had 3 qualification spots, but chose to give the 3rd spot up as only Argentina and Brazil had sufficient funding to participate. Australia has that slot now and the IHF would be in awkward position to deny Australia or add an additional team to the field.
http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=710

Greenland’s plight has been getting a fair amount of coverage in media outlets world wide including this account from Playthegame.org: http://playthegame.org/News/Up_To_Date/Greenland_victim_of_foul_play_in_regional_handball_federation.aspx

Team Handball News has learned that the Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) has downgraded Greenland’s status from a full member to an associate member. This downgrade means that Greenland can participate in PATHF events, but can’t qualify for IHF World Championships. Matches that Greenland would play would be considered exhibition friendlies and would not count in standings for qualification.

Greenland has been a member of the PATHF since 1998 and has qualified three times for the Men’s World Championships, in 2001, 2003 and 2007 and the Women qualified in 2001. Following their loss to Greenland at the 2006 Pan American Championships, the USA requested that Greenland’s status as a full member be clarified by the PATHF for future competitions. In particular, it was noted that Greenland players had only Danish passports and that Greenland does not have a recognized Olympic Committee. This issue was then discussed at the PATHF congress in 2006, but according to a rough draft report of the Congress http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73440975&blogID=200075136&MyToken=472d47d1-22ff-43ff-8a20-d16ff383523a , by USA attendee, Dennis Berkholtz, no decision on Greenland’s status was made. Perhaps this was a problem with translation, but there is currently no readily available documentation that demonstrates that a decision was made.

Greenland, in fact, only found out about their change in membership status, after repeated inquiries concerning the dates and location for the PATHF Men’s Junior Championship went unanswered. (A side note: Greenland was not the only nation to have communication problems with the PATHF as Canada also expressed frustration with the PATHF http://www.handballcanada.ca/Documents/Newsletter-004-07-en.pdf ) With no response from the PATHF and time running short to purchase airfare the Greenland Federation contacted the IHF for help. Shortly thereafter, the PATHF informed Greenland that the PATHF had in fact passed a resolution in November changing Greenland’s membership status and therefore they had not received an invitation. Greenland has since written the PATHF and indicated that they will take their case to the International Sports Judicial System.

It is also interesting to note that the Greenland Delegation met with PATHF President Manoel Olivera during the World Championships in January. During this brief meeting the PATHF President informed the Greenland Delegation that the Men’s Junior Championship might be moved from Chile in April to Brazil in May, but made no mention of Greenland’s new status and the fact that they wouldn’t be getting an invitation.

As matters currently stand Greenland will not participate in the PATHF Men’s Junior Championship even though, by the PATHF’s new rules they should be able to participate as an Associate member. And with only 7 teams participating, at 8th team would even out the tournament and not give any team an advantage due to a day off during pool play http://www.panamhandball.net/ResultadoSorteo.htm