Hosts New Caledonia had two reasons to celebrate in Païta on Friday night, as both the U17 and U19 women’s teams were crowned champions at the IHF Trophy – Oceania. New Caledonia enjoyed a dominant performance at the home championship, winning all of their games in both age categories to rank on top of the respective round-robin competitions. 

Following their strong opening days, the two New Caledonia teams added another three victories to keep their points tally at the maximum. The U17 team defeated New Zealand 20:16, Papua New Guinea 29:7 and Tahiti 25:12, while the U19 side recorded wins against Australia (30:10), Fiji (44:7) and American Samoa (33:13). With those results, New Caledonia were the clear winners of both trophies, and qualified for the IHF Trophy – Intercontinental Phase to be played in 2020. 

With New Caledonia so dominant in each age group, the main question was which teams would secure the other medals. In the U17 category, New Zealand placed second ahead of Tahiti in third. New Zealand followed their win over Papua New Guinea on day two with the defeat to the hosts, before finishing with three further victories – 23:8 versus Fiji, Australia 28:17 and Tahiti 26:14. 

Tahiti secured third place with three wins – the first on day two versus Fiji, then versus Papua New Guinea 26:8 and Australia 18:16. The loss to New Zealand decided their bronze medal, while New Zealand clinched second with that result. 

In the U19 category, Australia placed second and New Zealand clinched third. Adding to their results on the opening days, Australia were defeated by New Caledonia but beat Papua New Guinea 23:5, New Zealand 22:9 and American Samoa 34:23 in a decisive match. 

It was American Samoa’s loss to Australia that opened the door for New Zealand to take bronze, as they entered the final day of competition level on points with American Samoa. After beating Papua New Guinea 16:12, American Samoa 24:21 and their defeat to Australia, New Zealand recorded a 20:13 win over Fiji on the final day that took them to third on the ranking. 

RESULTS 

Youth competition 
NCL vs FIJ    42:9
FIJ vs TAH    11:22
NZL vs PNG    27:6
AUS vs NCL    13:35
TAH vs PNG    26:8
FIJ vs AUS    13:35
NCL vs NZL    20:16
NZL vs FIJ    23:8
TAH vs AUS    18:16
PNG vs NCL    7:29
PNG vs FIJ    17:17
AUS vs NZL    17:28
NCL vs TAH    25:12
PNG vs AUS    16:26
TAH vs NZL    14:26

Junior competition
NCL vs PNG    58:5
PNG vs ASA    10:23
AUS vs FIJ    39:6
NZL vs NCL    11:44
ASA vs FIJ    27:16
PNG vs NZL    12:16
NCL vs AUS    30:10
AUS vs PNG    23:5
ASA vs NZL    21:24
FIJ vs NCL    7:44
FIJ vs PNG    11:11
NZL vs AUS    9:22
ASA vs NCL    13:33
ASA vs AUS    23:34
FIJ vs NZL    13:20

Photos: Jun Tanlayco