15 teams compete for gold at 24th Summer Deaflympics handball tournaments

Handball will be featured once again at the Summer Deaflympics, as 15 teams – 10 men’s teams and five women’s teams – will contend for the two sets of medals awarded at this year’s edition.

The Summer Deaflympics 2021, the 24th edition of the competition which has been held every four years since 1969, will take place in Caxias do Sul, Brazil. Like the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which took place in 2021, the edition was postponed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the official Deaflympics website, 20 sports will be represented at Caixas do Sul 2021 between 1 May and 15 May, with the handball event being played at the UCS Ginásio Poliesportivo over 13 days.

The 10 men’s teams have been divided into two groups of five teams. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the semi-finals, as the third-placed teams will feature in the 5/6 Placement Match and the fourth-placed sides meet in the 7/8 Placement Match.

In the women’s tournament, the five teams will face off in a single group in a round-robin format, with the first four sides progressing to the semi-finals, which will be played between the first team and the fourth team in the standings, with the other pairing opposing the second-placed and the third-placed teams.

The women’s tournament will be played for the first time since Rome 2001, as four editions passed at which handball was only played in the men’s tournament.

Teams from three continents – Europe, Africa and South America – will be represented, with hosts Brazil, Denmark, Kenya and Turkey being the only nations which will feature in both the men’s and the women’s tournaments.

Croatia are the most decorated team in the men’s tournament in the past editions, securing the gold medal at both the Taipei 2009 and Sofia 2013 editions and clinching bronze at Samsun 2017, when the hosts, Turkey, won gold.

Handball has featured at the Deaflympics since 1969, with both the men’s and women’s tournament being featured four times – at Belgrade 1969, Los Angeles 1985, Rome 2001 and at Caxias do Sul 2021.

Teams at the Caxias do Sul 2021 handball tournaments

Men’s tournament
Group A: Brazil, Cameroon, Germany, Kenya, Serbia
Group B: Croatia, Denmark, Ghana, Turkey, Venezuela

Women’s tournament
Group A: Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Kenya, Turkey
 

For more information on the 24th Summer Deaflympics, visit deaflympics2021.com.