Angola, Argentina, Iceland and Tunisia won their maiden matches at the 2026 IHF Women's Junior World Championship and will start the President's Cup with two points, with four out of the last 16 matches of the preliminary round now complete.

Group B
Angola v Paraguay (11:6)

After two losses in their previous two matches, Angola opened their account at China 2026. The African side defeated Paraguay and will start the Presidents' Cup with two points, while the South Americans suffered their third consecutive defeat.

It was a low-scoring game with quite a lot of mistakes from both sides, but Angola had the upper hand from the very beginning. Their physically strong defence worked well, forcing Paraguay into turnovers, of which they recorded 22 throughout the encounter.

In the first half, Paraguay were restricted to just six goals, and they scored even fewer after the restart, finishing with an overall 42% shot efficiency. Angola were more efficient at 65%, and 10 of their players found their names on the scoresheet, with Isabel Cateco having a special impact with her six goals.

Midway through the first half, the Africans were in front 6:3 and never looked back. Despite scoring only 11 goals in the first half, Angola comfortably led by five goals at the interval, and they cruised to a 13-goal victory in the end, improving their chances of a higher placement in the Presidents' Cup.

Player of the Match: Marina Alfredo (Angola)

Group D
Argentina v Türkiye 29:26 (11:12)

So close, but yet so far for Türkiye, which conceded their third consecutive loss at China 2026 and will start the President’s Cup with zero points. However, the European side, which returned to the competition for the first time since 2001, will have plenty of positives to take from the first three matches.

Türkiye have lost big against Spain, but their other two matches, against the Republic of Korea and Argentina, have been actually close calls, with David Ginesta’s side missing out by just three goals in both matches.

At half-time, Türkiye were up 12:11, but Argentina avenged the loss against the Republic of Korea, a painful one, with a strong second half performance, as Helena Albertina Molina, the Player of the Match, scored 10 goals, while goalkeeper Lola Valentina Nunez Fridmanas was outstanding between the posts, with 16 saves and a 38% saving efficiency.

The turning point of the match came between the 46th and the 52nd minutes, when Argentina used a 4:0 run spurred by Catalina Alexa Losarcos, with two goals, to wrestle back the lead and create a three-goal lead, 24:21, which proved to be decisive.

Argentina will start the President’s Cup with two points, while Türkiye are on zero.

Player of the Match: Helena Albertina Molina (Argentina) 

Group F
Iceland v United States of America 33:23 (12:15)

With both Iceland and the USA out of contention for a place in the main round, this match was about a chance for a better finish at the end of the competition, with the winner taking two points into the President’s Cup.

And while on paper, Iceland were almost surefire favourites, the first half was arguably one of the best one produced by the United States of America at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in their history.

Iceland were topsy-turvy throughout most of the first half, while USA’s centre back Isabella da Cruz scored six goals, and the hafl-time result made for incredible reading: USA were up by three goals, 15:12, and they had all the momentum in the match.

However, Iceland had more depth and more experience and they needed a fantastic start in the second half, which they had, with a 6:2 run to turn the score around and take the lead.

And it was a lead they never relinquished, as USA’s overall top scorer in the competition, Maggie Doherty Dahllof, had only two goals from 10 shots. Da Cruz continued to score, finishing with eight goals, but Iceland had two strong scorers in Ásthildur Jóna Thórhallsdóttir and Dagmar Gudrun Pálsdóttir, who both scored seven goals, lifting them to a 33:23 win.

Player of the Match: Elísabet Millý Elíasardóttir (Iceland)

Group G
Chinese Taipei v Tunisia 17:30 (6:16)

It took 16 minutes and one second for the Chinese Taipei to score their first goal of the match against Tunisia and the writing was on the wall already for the Asian side, which was down 8:0 by that point.

Fang Ying Hsu scored her first goal of the match with a good breakthrough, but the Chinese Taipei had little chance in the first half, as the turnovers piled up and Tunisia punished them on the breakthroughs.

The turnovers were the main reason why the Chinese Taipei fell so far behind, as every outfield player lost the ball at least once and that, in turn, created a loss of momentum even when the Asian side managed to cut the lead to eight goals, 20:12, with 16 minutes to go.

Eventually, the Chinese Taipei finished with more than double the number of turnovers than the number of goals scored, while Tunisia relied on May Yazidi, who scored six goals, and goalkeeper Aya Boudhaouia, who in the first 20 minutes of the second half had a 75% saving efficiency, to pull through, 30:17.

Tunisia will start the President’s Cup with two points, while the Chinese Taipei are likely to be headed to the last places in the final standings, with three losses in a row.

Player of the Match: Aya Boudhaouia (Tunisia)