Cuban handball players last in their group at the World Championship

The Cuban team lost their fifth game 30-40 to their Angolan counterparts, in the last clash of the group stage of the women’s championship handball World Championship, held in the Japanese city of Kumamoto. In this way, the Cubans finished at the bottom of the list, without winning a single match.

The Angolans were better than the Cubans throughout the match and beat them in both sets by 20-16 and 20-14, respectively, the Cubadebate digital site reported this Friday.

Angola🇦🇴 earns its second victory against Cuba🇨🇺 in round5⃣ at #Japan2019 #together pic.twitter.com/9leXYhLa30

— International Handball Federation (@ihf_info) December 6, 2019

After this performance, the girls led by Jorge Coll finished bottom of Group A, accumulating five defeats without a win, and a goal difference of -101, the second worst among the 24 teams competing in the World Championship.

From now on, the Cuban team will have to settle for a 21 to 24 position in the general table.

In the previous days of the preliminary phase, Cuba lost to Norway (16-47), Serbia (27-46), the Netherlands (23-51) and Slovenia (26-39). A mediocre result, but predicted since before the championship: the national team’s objective was to improve on the 23rd place obtained in the 2015 event, which is still within reach, although they could also make it worse if they end up finishing last.

Table of Group A positions after the preliminary phase of the World Women’s Handball Championship taking place in Kumamoto, Japan. Graphic: @ihf_info/Twitter

On December 8, they will have the opportunity to get their first victory against the Australian team and if they win, they will discuss the 21st place against the winner between Kazakhstan and China.

Eyatne Rizo, Lisandra Lussón and Lorena Téllez, the most outstanding players of the Cuban team, will have to assume the leadership of the team to at least make up for their weak participation in the World Championship.

Rizo was the best, scoring 21 goals, and also aided in defense with five ball recoveries; while her teammates Lussón and Téllez have provided nine assists each in the league.

OnCuba staff, OnCuba editorial staff