Alma Brítez

Alma Brítez

Before the game for fifth place in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games
Player information
Full name	Alma María Brítez Benítez
birthday	October 18, 2001
place of birth	Asunción
citizenship	Paraguay
height	1.71 m
Playing position	Right winger
Throwing hand	right
Club information
society	Club Cerro Porteño
Jersey number	9
National team
	Games (goals)
Paraguay beach handball
As of August 19, 2020

Alma María Brítez Benítez (born October 18, 2001 in Asunción ) is a Paraguayan handball player . In her home country she is one of the very popular young athletes with a fairly large following.

Indoor handball

Alma Brítez plays for Club Cerro Porteño in Asunción. She started playing handball at the age of seven during a school tournament. The right winger played indoor handball in various junior national teams of Paraguay and took part in the U-16 South American Championships in her home country in November 2017, winning the silver medal.

Beach handball

Brítez has so far achieved her greatest successes in beach handball , which she has been practicing since 2016.

Juniors

Brítez was part of Paraguay's squad for the 2017 Pan American U-17 Championships. Here she won the bronze medal with her team. This enabled the team to qualify for the first-ever Junior World Championships 2017 in Flic-en-Flac , Mauritius, but Brítez was unable to take part in the tournament. There the team lost all three preliminary round matches against the top teams Argentina, Hungary and Croatia without them and then only took part in the qualifying round. Here Australia and Mauritius were defeated. In the other placement games, American Samoa was first defeated, then lost to Colombia and Croatia. In the end, Paraguay placed eleventh of 14 places. But since Argentina hosted the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games and Brazil had canceled participation in the Junior World Cup, Paraguay still fought for one of the two starting places for South America alongside Colombia.

Brítez throwing a goal against the Argentine defense ( Rosario Soto in goal, Zoe Turnes and Belén Aizen (left) in the preliminary round match of the Youth Olympic Games; Argentine coach Leticia Brunati observes the action on the right

)

Brítez in the preliminary round of the Youth Olympic Games against Turkey

Brítez on goal against Taiwan in the game for fifth place at the Youth Olympic Games, Shufen Chen tries to prevent her from throwing.

Beach handball was Olympic for the first time at the youth games in Buenos Aires . Brítez was one of the most noticeable players of the tournament and Paraguay played a pretty good tournament overall. After a weak start to the tournament against the Netherlands, with Paraguay's two points in the second set - Brítez's only point from a penalty throw from Anna Buter for the entire game - and a clear defeat against the hosts from Argentina, in which Brítez played poorly , did not score a point, rejected a penalty and lost three balls, the team was able to improve from then on. In the third game, against Hong Kong, there was a clear two-set win. With 12 points she was the most successful player of the game, but again she made four heavy ball losses. This was followed by a 2-1 victory over Turkey, Brítez was again Paraguay's most successful thrower, now with eleven points. In addition, she acted very conspicuously again, gave three assists on goals from teammates, was fouled twice, followed by penalties and again lost the ball three times. She scored two of the points in the shootout. With the final 2-1 victory over Venezuela, Paraguay qualified for the main round. With 18 points scored from ten hits in 13 attempts, three of them from penalty throws and one hit from the shootout, she was not only again the best thrower, but also scored quite a high value for a beach handball game. The first main round match against Hungary was clearly lost, although Brítez was again the best thrower with 14 points. But again she lost the ball to the opposing team four times. In the defeat against Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), their eight points were twice exceeded by Darlene Leiva (9) and Sofía Ugarriza (10) in their own team. Brítez had a hit rate of less than 60%, but she could achieve a relatively high number with three assists. They also lost two sets against Croatia, although they were hard-fought for, and Brítez was again the best thrower in her team with ten goals. In the end, Paraguay was level on points with Chinese Taipei, bottom of points in the main round table, but was behind due to the lost direct comparison. Both teams missed the semi-finals and played in a direct duel for fifth place. This time Paraguay clearly won the game and dominated especially in the first set. Brítez achieved a very good value again with 13 points, only her teammate Andrea Gaona could achieve even more with 16 points. With 88 points, Brítez was not only the most successful thrower of her team, but was also the sixth most successful thrower of the tournament after Anna Iwanowa , Lynn Klesser , Pinchun Lin , Anja Vida Lukšić and Csenge Braun , with a rate of 9.8 hits per game even fifth best Brown.

Women

After being only 16 years old, Brítez was called up for the Pan-American Championships in March 2018, as were her somewhat older colleagues in Buenos Aires, Sofía Ugarriza and Guadalupe Villalba . In the preliminary round, the teams from Trinidad and Tobago (2-0) and Mexico (2-0) were beaten, against Uruguay there was a 1-2 defeat. In the quarterfinals, the United States was beaten 2-1. In the semifinals, the world class team of Brazil proved to be too strong (0-2). In the bronze medal match, Paraguay met Mexico again and won again, this time with 2-1. The team had thus qualified for the World Championships in Kazan .

In Russia Paraguay first won the opening game against Australia with 2-0 sets, with both rounds being won by only one point. Brítez, the youngest in the team, was the most successful thrower with eleven points. In the following very clear defeat against Spain she was by far the best thrower with ten points. Also in the very balanced game against the eventual world champion Greece , which was only lost in the shootout, Brítez was the most successful Paraguayan with ten points. The team qualified for the main round as third in the group. All three games that followed went into the shootout. In the win against Poland Brítez only scored three points, this time Ana Insfrán was the top scorer . In the defeat against Uruguay she was again the best of her team with 12 points. The victory against Taiwan was also fiercely contested, Brítez with 13 points, one point less than Insfrán, second best thrower. In all three shootouts she scored, albeit against Poland for only one point instead of two. Fourth of six teams, Paraguay was able to qualify for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals they met the reigning vice world champion and three-time world champion Brazil, against whom there was a clear defeat. Only two players from Paraguay scored in this game, alongside Brítez with five points, Insfrán with 13. The other two placement games against Poland and Russia were also lost. Brítez only scored four points against Poland and only two points against Russia. Brítez finished eighth with Paraguay in the final. After the tournament, she was named the third best player in the tournament and the best young player.

Brítez in the bronze medal game at the South American Beach Games 2019

The next international championship was the South American Beach Games in March 2019. In Rosario , Argentina , the Paraguayan team, which in addition to Brítez only competed in the Youth Olympic Games with Naomi Gueyraud , only lost Argentina in the preliminary round after Peru (2-0 ) and Chile (2-1) could be defeated. In the semifinals there was another 0-2 defeat against Brazil. But in the game for the bronze medal Venezuela was beaten 2-0.

successes

The Paraguayan team at the medal ceremony as part of the South American Beach Games 2019

Beach handball world championships

• 2018 : eighth

Beach handball Pan American championships

• 2018 : bronze medal

South American beach games

• 2019 : bronze medal

Youth Olympic Games

• 2018 : fifth

Beachhandball Junior Pan American Championships

• 2017: Bronze (U17)

Indoor handball South American championships

• 2017: Silver (U16)

Web links

Commons : Alma Brítez  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Adolescente de 16 años se destaca en Mundial de Balonmano de Playa en Rusia (Spanish)

Single receipts

1. ↑ Planteles del Sudamericano de Menores Villa María 2015 - Handball Argentina. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (Spanish). 
2. ↑ Sudamericano Menor M / F - Villa María, Argentina 2015 | Torneos - Handball Argentina. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (Spanish). 
3. ↑ https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/deportes/buen-arranque-en-el-sudamericano-1646102.html !
4. ^ Mañana será la apertura - Deportes - ABC Color. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (Spanish). 
5. ↑ https://www.abc.com.py/periodismo-joven/adolescente-de-16-anos-se-destaca-en-mundial-de-balonmano-de-playa-en-rusia-1734263.html
6. ^ Paraguay, al Mundial U17 - Deportes - ABC Color. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (Spanish). 
7. ↑ Adolescente de 16 años se destaca en Mundial de Balonmano de Playa en Rusia - Periodismo Joven - ABC Color. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (Spanish). 
8. ↑ 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Official Result Book Beach handball
9. ↑ Mundial y bronze para el handbol femenino de playa. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (European Spanish). 
10. ↑ Mundial y bronze para el handbol femenino de playa. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (European Spanish). 
11. ↑ Paraguay se mete entre las ocho mejores del Mundial. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (European Spanish). 
12. ^ Paraguay va por la semis. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (European Spanish). 
13. ↑ Adolescente de 16 años se destaca en Mundial de Balonmano de Playa en Rusia - Periodismo Joven - ABC Color. Retrieved August 19, 2020 (Spanish). 
14. ↑ https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/deportes/suerte-dispar-en-el-handbol-1796438.html
15. ↑ https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/deportes/beach-handbol-es-de-bronce-1797155.html