The men's beach handball competition completed its preliminary round today with Portugal and Thailand sealing their places in the main round thanks to victories over Paraguay and Chinese Taipei.

2018 Youth Olympic Games – Buenos Aires

Matchday 3: Men’s Preliminary Round – Wednesday 10 October

- Argentina and Hungary make it five wins out of five in their respective groups
- U17 world championship silver medallists Italy lose, crash out of medal contention
- Spain, Thailand, Croatia and Portugal join group winners in main round

For the match schedules and results click HERE.

Men’s Preliminary Round: Group A
Thailand confirmed their place in the main round with a 2:0 win over Chinese Taipei, as their nearest rivals for the last six, Venezuela, failed to win against Spain on the central court at the same time.

Uruguay, without any points going into the day, gave the Hungarians a scare in the first period, but their opponents continued their perfect run, to win 2:0 and make it 10 points out of 10 to win the group. Spain's win ensured they kept second spot and take two points through to the main round, Hungary four and Thailand zero.

Venezuela (4 points), Chinese Taipei (2) and Uruguay (0) go into the consolation round.

Results
ESP vs VEN 2:0 (22:18, 20:12)
TPE vs THA 0:2 (12:24, 16:18)
URU vs HUN 0:2 (12:15, 14:20)

Men’s Preliminary Round: Group B
Italy failed to keep their part of the deal as they lost to host nation Argentina in an epic shoot-out, eventually won by the home team 14:12. The result meant that whatever happened in the Portugal vs Paraguay match, the Portuguese were through.

Portugal had started the day in the stronger position with the better head-to-head record and lower-ranked opponent, and by the time Italy had started their shoot-out, confirmation had come through of the Portugal win which meant Italy could not progress - even with a win.

Croatia beat Mauritius as expected to join Argentina (4 points) and Portugal (0) in the main round, with two points.

Italy, who won the silver medal at the IHF Men's U17 Beach Handball World Championship, now find themselves able to finish no higher than seventh in Buenos Aires, taking four points into the consolation round, with Mauritius on two points and Paraguay zero points.

Results
ITA vs ARG 1:2 (20, 18, 22:24, SO 12:14)
POR vs PAR 2:0 (24:12, 23:14)
MRI vs CRO 0:2 (12:19, 12:28)