Cuba triumph at Men's IHF Trophy North American and Caribbean zone

Seven junior (U20) national teams participated in the Men's IHF Trophy North American and Caribbean zone, which took place in Mexico City from 12 to 17 December. The team from Cuba won the title after comfortably defeating the United States of America in the final match on Saturday (36:23). 

The Cubans also qualified for the Intercontinental Phase of the Men's IHF Trophy. Besides, the two best-placed teams – Cuba and USA – booked tickets to the 2023 IHF Men's Junior World Championship, which will take place in Germany and Greece from 20 June to 2 July 2023.

Cuba deserved their title as they won all five matches at the tournament in Mexico City. After boasting a perfect record in the preliminary group, they beat Guadeloupe (36:24) in the semi-final on Friday. In the other semi-final on the same day, USA proved too strong for Martinique (34:24).

Two teams from the French overseas regions, Martinique and Guadeloupe, met in the third-place encounter on Saturday, and Martinique claimed bronze with a commanding 46:23 victory.

In the 5-7 placement matches, Greenland beat Puerto Rico on Friday (32:19), and Mexico snatched a win against Greenland the following day (28:26), so the home team finished fifth.

Elliot Robertson from the US team was voted MVP of the event. Cuba's Maiko Vasquez, who netted 11 times in the final match, became the tournament's top scorer with 38 goals. 

You can find all results, match reports, standings and match videos here. 

Final ranking

1.    Cuba

2.    USA

3.    Martinique

4.    Guadeloupe  5. Mexico  6. Greenland  7. Puerto Rico

Photo: North American and the Caribbean Handball Confederation