U17 Beach Handball Boys claim gold and Girls sliver at Oceania Champs

The Australian boys have claimed the Oceania title and gold medal and our girls are runners up, taking a silver medal at the event in Raratoga in the Cook Islands between May 3-5.

Our boys have taken the title of Oceania Championships in their final against New Zealand. They won both periods (halves) of the match 2:0, with the first half 16:2 and the second 24:4. They were undefeated across the three days.
The final this afternoon was their second match of the day, having played American Samoa earlier in the semi-final.

Our U17 girls also made their way to the final undefeated, with two of the wins via penalty shoot outs. They played American Samoa. Rain and wind interrupted play with American Samoa ahead and this was the theme for the rest of the match when play resumed. This time American Samoa won both periods - 11:4 and 7:0.

In the Girls event, four teams were contesting the title – American Samoa, Australia, the Cook Islands and Kiribati. The guys event had five teams with the addition of New Zealand.

Australian player Liam McCourt was awarded MVP for the boys and Stephanie Floor from American Samoa for the girls.

Both Australian teams making the finals, with the top two teams in each boys and girls qualifying for the U17 World Beach Handball Championships to be held in Mauritius in July. The event is also part of the qualification pathway for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
(Photo credit: Jun Tanlayco)