The women's preliminary round of beach handball at the Youth Olympic Games finished earlier today with the only remaining issue resolved - Paraguay won the clash of the continent, beating Venezuela to take the final main round place.

2018 Youth Olympic Games – Buenos Aires

Matchday 3: Women’s Preliminary Round - Wednesday 10 October

- Hungary, Croatia, Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, Argentina and Paraguay through to last six
- Netherlands and Hungary top their groups with perfect first round record
- Turkey win first points

For all match schedules, results and statistics click  HERE.

Women’s Preliminary Round: Group A
The Hungarians ended their preliminary round campaign with five wins out of five as they defeated Chinese Taipei 2:0 after Rebeka Benzsay scored a solitary point with just 17 seconds left to win the first period 22:20, and then her side powered through the second period to win by six points.

The result means that Hungary end their preliminary round campaign with the most points scored (228) in the women's competition and take four points through to the main round.

Both other games in the group were one-sided affairs as Croatia beat American Samoa 2:0, scoring a total of 42 points. Russia did more damage to their opponents though as Mauritius could only score six points in response to the Russian's total of 61.

Croatia finish in second-place, taking two points through to the main round and Chinese Taipei take zero. 

Russia, American Samoa and Mauritius all go into the consolation round with 4, 2 and 0 points respectively.

Results
HUN vs TPE 2:0 (22:20, 21:15)
CRO vs ASA 2:0 (20:8, 22:7)
MRI vs RUS 0:2 (2:33, 4:28)

Women’s Preliminary Round: Group B
Paraguay just about did enough to squeeze past Venezuela, to win 2:1, and with it take the final main round place. After losing the first period 15:14, they came back strong in the second, winning 24:15 and then won the shoot-out 7:6.

But that does not tell the whole story as the game was littered with nervous moments and flashes of excellence, all resulting in Paraguay taking zero points into the main round and Venezuela taking four into the consolation round.

In the fight for the top, Argentina lost their first game of the tournament as the 2017 U17 world championship runners-up Netherlands won 2:0 to take four points through to the main round with the host nation moving on with two points.

In the third game of the group today, Turkey won their first match, defeating Hong Kong 2:0. Both teams join Venezuela in the consolation round with two and zero points respectively.

Results
NED vs ARG 2:0 (22:19, 22:16)
VEN vs PAR 1:2 (14:15, 24:15, SO 6:7)
HKG vs TUR 0:2 (10:12, 16:18)