The first-ever North America and Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Congress took place in Acapulco, Mexico, last weekend, highlighting the re-emergence of handball throughout the continent, after the COVID-19 pandemic ground the sport to a halt.

The 21 National Federations that make up the NACHC were invited to the Congress, with several attending in person, while others taking part via videoconference due to the current COVID-19 health measures in place.

“The NACHC members were really looking forward to an event that would restart handball activities in our arena, therefore the Congress marked this moment and promoted hope among our members, alongside the Junior Men’s NACHC Qualification Tournament for the Junior Pan-American Games,” said NACHC President Mario García de la Torre.

“Additionally, the celebration of the Congress promoted a great interest in our senior women qualification tournament for the IHF Women’s World Championship, due to be played in August in Chicago,” added Garcia de la Torre.

The organization of the 1st NACHC Congress presented several challenges, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the health measures in place in the 21 countries that are members of the NACHC.

As several countries are still undergoing periods of lockdown and quarantine for arrivals, eight members of the NACHC were able to attend the Congress in person in Acapulco, Mexico, where all the health measures were implemented strictly. To ensure the protection of the participants, all attendees were required to undergo a COVID-19 test within 72 hours before arriving to the NACHC Congress.

“We want to build a strong and stable organisation in this region that promotes handball in a professional way and this can only be done if our members adhere to the principles stipulated in our bylaws and regulations. This is the only way one can grow, with full respect of the normative documents, a qualitative planning and a scrupulous execution of the aforementioned plans,” said Garcia de la Torre to ihf.info.

According to the NACHC president, the Congress was an unmitigated success, as all the members joined forces to combat the effects of the ongoing pandemic over handball, with the event creating an environment of hope and trust for the immediate and medium-term future of handball in North America and the Caribbean.

IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa also took part in the NACHC Congress via videoconference, underlining the importance of growing the appeal of handball in the region and congratulating the members for their work throughout a challenging period in the past 18 months.

“We really hope that the IHF will have a successful and unproblematic organisation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July,” concluded Garcia de la Torre.

Qualification for Spain 2021

From 22 to 25 August, Chicago, USA, will play host to the NACHC’s qualification tournament for the 25th IHF Women’s World Championship. The competition will be played as a four-team round-robin tournament featuring Mexico, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the United States of America, and finishes with a bronze-medal and a gold-medal match.