After two days of the men’s beach handball competition at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, hosts Argentina and Hungary top their respective preliminary round groups. Paraguay and Uruguay end the day still without points, both in bottom place in their groups.

2018 Youth Olympic Games – Buenos Aires

Matchday 2: Men’s Preliminary Round – Tuesday 9 October

- Argentina win their third and fourth games in a row to continue their perfect record
- Hungary continue their 100% record 
- The two teams both top their groups, but both won their matches today on shoot-outs
- Each group sees final main round places to be confirmed

For the match schedules and results click  HERE. How to Follow the Games HERE.

Men’s Preliminary Round: Group A
The opening central court match of the day lived up to its expectations as Hungary gained some revenge, beating Spain 2:1 via a shoot-out, which had started with a fantastic Spanish save from Pedro Rodriguez Serrano. The first period saw Hungary keep their heads when, following a time-out with the score at 16:15 to Spain, Viktor Melnicsuk broke through in a frantic last-second manoeuvre to score on the buzzer.

This meant that world champions Spain had it all to do in the second period, which they did, winning 21:16, but the shoot-out saw the Hungarians prevail.

In their second match, Hungary also won on a shoot-out, against Thailand, which meant that they ended the day in top spot on eight points with a ticket through to the main round. Their opponents, who won their first game against Uruguay 2:0 lie in third place on points, tied with Venezuela going into the final match of the group tomorrow.

Venezuela defeated Uruguay in their second match to knock out their continental rivals, while Taipei, lost their second match of the day, against Spain, who will go through to the main round tomorrow, on six points.

Results
ESP vs HUN 1:2 (16:17, 21:16, SO 6:7)
THA vs URU 2:0 (26:25, 23:17)
VEN vs TPE 2:0 (22:15, 21:20)
HUN vs THA 2:1 (21:23, 24:19, SO 9:6)
TPE vs ESP 0:2 (16:26, 16:19)
VEN vs URU 2:0 (26:14, 21:9)

Men’s Preliminary Round: Group B
With everyone beating everyone in group B it was no surprise that three of the six matches today went to a shoot-out and the clearest information at the end of a second matchday is that Argentina are the dominant team – through to the main round on eight points after winning both of their games in a shoot-out. 

Their early clash with Portugal was, again, another great advertisement for beach handball as it was full of emotion and passion – and drama. The first period 22:20 win for the host nation was won by a golden goal from Julian Santos, but from a penalty, after a Portuguese infraction. Portugal had themselves drawn level (20:20) on the buzzer after a time-out with just three seconds remaining.

Such is the strength of the Portuguese though, they came back strong in the second period, restricting Argentina to just eight points and taking the game to the dramatic finale in front of yet another vociferous home crowd.

While Argentina won their second match of the day, against Mauritius, it was the African side who were really the main story of the day, winning their first period – and match – of the Olympics as they saw off Paraguay 2:1, winning the shoot-out 5:2. This result and performance gave them confidence going into the show game, for their first experience on the central court, against the hosts.

After Argentina won the first set by 10 (17:7), the team – and the fans – expected a smooth ride in the second period, but it was not to be as Mauritius saw a one-point shot from Jean Romain put his side 17:16 ahead with three seconds left and then Jesus Elian Goux miss for the host nation a second later. This shock was enough for Argentina to re-group, and when Mauritius missed their first two shots in the shoot-out, the South Americans marched on to victory.

Croatia claimed an important victory over Italy and then eased to another win, against Paraguay, to ensure they progress tomorrow, currently on six points, while Portugal handed Italy their second defeat of the day, which saw the Italians drop to fourth in the group, tied on points with the Portuguese and in danger of not progressing through to the main round with it all to play for against the hosts tomorrow.

Results
ARG vs POR 2:1 (22:20, 8:14, SO 10:5)
ITA vs CRO 0:2 (15:20, 17:8)
PAR vs MRI 1:2 (13:15, 20:14, SO 2:5)
ARG vs MRI 2:1 (17:7, 16:17, SO 10:4)
POR vs ITA 2:0 (18:14, 19:14)
CRO vs PAR 2:0 (22:10, 25:15)