The South and Central America Under-13 Championship for girls and the Under-14 Championship for boys took place between 16 and 20 September in Asunción, Paraguay, with the hosts taking the gold medal in the girls’ competition, while Argentina secured the title in the boys’ competition.

Six teams took part in both competitions, with Paraguay sending two squads – A and B – to both the boys’ and the girls’ championships, with Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay following suit. Both competitions were played in a round-robin format, with the winner being decided first by the number of points, then the head-to-head result and goal difference.

In the girls’ competition, the battle for the title was fierce, eventually heading to goal difference between Paraguay’s A team and Argentina.

First, Paraguay disposed of Uruguay, 29:11, with Fiorella Tomas and Amapola Cuevas combining for 15 goals. In the second match, Cuevas scored seven more goals to lift Paraguay to a 33:18 win over Chile, as Paraguay thoroughly outplayed Brazil next, 34:18, as Cuevas and Torres again combined for 15 goals.

A 30:18 win for Paraguay’s A team against their B team set up a crunch last match against Argentina, which had previously beaten all their opponents, including a hard-fought 27:26 win against Brazil.

The two sides finally ended in a deadlock, 28:28, prompting Paraguay to take the title, with a superior goal difference, +61, as opposed to Argentina’s +39. Brazil finished third, followed by Paraguay’s B team, Chile and Uruguay.

Argentina’s Rebeca Lopes was the top scorer of the competition, with 34 goals, followed by her teammate, Luciana Costas (31 goals) and Paraguay’s Amapola Cuevas (29 goals).

In the boys’ competition, the battle for the title was between Argentina and Brazil and the former emerged victorious, after sweeping their opponents.

Argentina started off strong, with a 24:17 win over Uruguay, then delivered a crunch 39:10 win over Paraguay’s B team. The crucial match was the one against Brazil and Roman Villaruel scored six goals in a match controlled by Argentina, which led 13:10 at the break and powered to a 26:21 win.

Then, Argentina secured a win against Chile, 27:22, and against Paraguay A, 30:16, to secure the title. Brazil finished second, with four wins in five matches, with the podium completed by Chile. Paraguay A finished fourth, Uruguay came fifth and Paraguay B team ended up on the last place.

Brazil’s Enzo Gasparotto scored 32 goals and was the top goal scorer of the boys’ competition, followed by Paraguay’s Tobias Vergara (28 points) and Brazil’s Gustavo Batista (26 goals).

Credit photo: German Paez / SCA