2018 Pan American Beach Handball Championships

USA Beach Handball hosted the 2018 Pan American Beach Handball Championships in Oceanside last week.  The competition took place from March 6 – 11 on the Oceanside Harbor Beach.  The tournament was open to men’s and women’s senior National Teams from North, Central, and South America as well as Caribbean countries. A total of 20 teams competed, 12 men and 8 women, with the top four teams in each division advancing to the World Beach Handball Championships in Kazan, Russia, July 2018. 
The top three winners in the women’s division:
Gold medalist - Brazil
Silver medalist - Uruguay
Bronze Medalist - Paraguay
Top three winners in the men’s division:
Gold medalist - Brazil
Silver medalist - Uruguay
Bronze medalist - USA

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Beach Handball continues to be one of the quickest growing beach sports in the world with its fast paced, high scoring, spectator friendly games. The game is the “sand” version of the Olympic sport of Team Handball, played with teams of four and two action packed sets of 10 minute each. Games are often decided by a shoot-out. 
Oceanside’s Deputy Mayor Chuck Lowery was a presenter at the games giving the bronze medals to our men’s USA team. Willie Banks, an Oceanside native Olympic and world champion, presented silver medals to men’s Uruguay team. The event was exciting and a great way to unite many countries in our beautiful city for a weekend filled with sports, friendship, food and fun!