The Palau d’Esports de Granollers in Spain will forever be associated with Congo after their women’s handball side recorded a nine-goal (33:24) win against continental rivals Tunisia in the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship and with it, qualification for the main round of the competition for the first time ever.

Congo have only appeared in the championship five times previously, in 1982, 1999, 2001, 2007 and 2009. 

And the best authors of Congo could not have written it any better with captain Diane Gaelle leading the way, scoring six first half goals, five in the second to end on 11 and the hummel Player of the Match award.

GROUP F
Tunisia vs Congo 24:33 (9:18)

Congo completely overturned their June CAHB Women’s African Championship loss against Tunisia in the bronze-medal match (17:22) to overpower their continental rivals and secure a spot in the last 24 of the World Championship.

Tunisia coach Moez Ben Amor and his players had warned of a stronger challenge in the match on Monday thanks to Congo adding a number of French-league based players to the team, but it was a mix of both home-based and European-based players that worked together for the common goal.

Key player, left wing Josephine Nkou, who is out for the championship with a severe knee injury, dressed for the game, on the bench – complete with crutches – and even took part in time-outs, such is the togetherness that coach Younes Tatby has brought to his squad in Spain.

Congo left back Kimberley Rutil had told ihf.info ahead of the match that her team were “fighters”, but they hardly needed to show any of that as Tunisia did not score in their first six possessions, finding themselves 0:3 down after seven minutes, soon after scoring their first goal.

Tatby, meanwhile was coaching as much as he could on the sidelines, taking physical control of every single transition from the bench with the Congolese rotation working wonders for his side.

Playmaker Fanta Diagouraga was having fun on court, leading her side to a 12:7 advantage in the 19th minute, at which point Amor took Tunisia’s first time-out.

But Congo kept scoring and their strong defence shut up shots for the rest of the first half when Tunisia scored their ninth (12:9, 21st minute), allowing Congo to go on a 6:0 scoring run.

Nkou could be heard from the bench telling her teammates not to doubt themselves due to their healthy lead in this period, while Tatby reminded his players to be calm and remember their in-depth video analysis conducted yesterday.

Tunisia’s attack could not find a way past the Congo defence and could not adapt. Amor himself let the frustration of the match boil over early in the second half, being warned with a yellow card, but Congo took advantage of Tunisia’s heads dropping as they went behind by 10 (14:24, 45th minute) and simply did not have enough to come back.

At the final whistle, Nkou hopped in joy on one leg, her crutches in the air, before being picked up by her whole team.

hummel Player of the Match Award: Diane Gaelle Yimga, Congo