African Women’s Handball Championship: Angola Beats Cameroon To Gold Again

Just like the last 6 years, Angola are African champions. It is the 15th time Angola are grabbing gold for the 15th time in their history, defeating Cameroon 29-19 in the final.

While the final of the Women’s Handball Euro will be played on November 20, Africa already distributed its medals on Nov. 19.

The final was a remake of the 2021 final between Angola and the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon.

It was also the clash between two undefeated teams in the competition since the start. In the group stage, Angola easily saw off of Algeria, Cape Verde and the DRC. Then, they beat Tunisia and hosts Senegal, after extra time.

On her part, Cameroon also easily drubbed Côte d’Ivoire and Madagascar before beating Senegal by one goal. The handball Lionesses went on to beat both Congos to reach the final.

The game

After a good Cameroonian defense, Linda Awu opened the scoring at 9m, followed by Paola Ebanga. After several failed attempts, Magda Cazanga opened the scoring for Angola after 3 minutes of play (1-2).

Cameroon then had more difficulty in attack but fortunately for the Indomitable Lionesses, Angola did not take advantage of their two counter-attacks with an error and then a stoppage by Noëlle Mben Bediang.

The Cameroonian goalkeeper was also in good shape at the start of the meeting. After 8 minutes of play, Cameroon led 5-2, pushing Angola to take their time out. Positive result since Angola returned to -1 (4-5).

Angola was reduced but Cameroon did not take the numerical superiority and had more difficulty in projecting themselves, then causing the Cameroonian timeout.

Angola switched to a 1-5 defense to counter Cameroon’s long shots and it worked. In attack, the Angolans put work to return to equality after 17 minutes (7-7). Gradually, Angola took the game on by the neck and took the lead.

The Angolans returned to the locker room with a comfortable lead (13-10), exuding great serenity.

Cameroon came back from the locker room with two goals from Ebanga and the stoppage of Mben Bediang (13-12). But Angola bounced back. In attack, it was clearly much more fluid for Angola who managed to find the gaps. The gap rose to +6 (19-13).

10 minutes from the end, the match was beyond reach (25-16).

Finally, Angola won 29-19 on a last save by the Angolan goalkeeper on a counterattack. It is the 15th African title for Angola which means a fourth consecutive coronation.