Eight teams have made it through to the quarter-finals at the 2024 CAHB African Women’s Handball Championship, after the conclusion of the preliminary round in Kinshasa, DR Congo.

12 sides have lined up at the start of the African continental competition, which have been divided into two groups of six teams, with the top four teams in each group progressing to the next phase, while the other two sides heading to the President’s Cup.

Reigning champions Angola, winners of 12 of the last 13 editions of the CAHB African Women’s Handball Championship, swept their way into the quarter-finals, dominating their opponents in fantastic fashion, boasting five wins in five matches, with the best attack, scoring 188 goals in five matches, and the best defence, conceding only 85 goals.

A 36:23 win against Tunisia in the start of the competition was followed by a dominating performance against Uganda, where they took a 46:11 win. Then, Angola beat Guinea, 35:22, and forced their way into a fantastic 31:14 win against Cameroon, which finished as runners-up in the previous two editions of the competition, before sealing their fifth win against hosts DR Congo, 40:15.

Cameroon finished second, with four wins and a single loss, with Laeticia Ateba delivering a flawless performance in a crucial match against DR Congo, 25:23, with the hosts finishing on the third position, with three wins. The last qualified team from Group B was Tunisia, which had a better goal difference, +13, than Guinea’s -1, after the two sides finished in a stalemate, 28:28.

Group A was clearly more balanced, with three sides ending up with eight points, but Congo were the winners of the group, thanks to a better head-to-head goal difference in their three-way tie with Egypt and Senegal.

Congo started on the wrong foot, with a 23:27 loss against Egypt, but bounced back and finished the preliminary round with four wins on the trot, with the most crucial one coming in the last matchday, 25:17 against Senegal, as Fanta Diagouraga scored seven goals. Therefore, in the three-way tie, Congo led the way, with a +3 goal difference, followed by Egypt, with a +1 goal difference, and Senegal with a -3 goal difference.

Senegal beat Egypt, 21:16, but had the worst goal difference between the three sides and ended on the third place, with the final quarter-finals berth going to Algeria, whose 20:16 win against Cape Verde in the first day of the competition was crucial.

The quarter-finals will throw off in Kinshasa on Wednesday, 4 December, with group winners Angola facing Algeria, while Congo are due to face Tunisia. More balanced matches are expected between Cameroon and Senegal, as well as between Egypt and DR Congo.

The winners of the quarter-finals head to the semi-finals, scheduled on 6 December, while the final and the bronze medal match are scheduled for 7 December.

Credit photo: CAHB