One week to go until African women showpiece throw-off

01 Jun. 2021

One week to go until African women showpiece throw-off

In just seven days, the 24th edition of the CAHB Women’s African Championship will throw off in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with 12 of the very best teams in the continent fighting it out for regional glory and a ticket to the 25th IHF Women’s World Championship in Spain.

Taking place from 8 to 18 June, all games will be held at the Yaoundé Multipurpose Sports Complex in the Cameroonian capital and feature 12 participating nations for the first time in the history of the championship which dates back to 1974.

The Championship was originally scheduled for December 2020 but was rescheduled due the COVID-19 pandemic.

Draw
Following the draw in April, the following preliminary groups were confirmed:

Group A: Senegal (SEN), Tunisia (TUN), Guinea (GUI), Madagascar (MAD)
Group B: DR Congo (COD), Cameroon (CMR), Nigeria (NGR), Kenya (KEN)
Group C: Angola (ANG), Congo (CGO), Algeria (ALG)* Cape Verde (CPV)

*Update (2 June 2021): Algeria have withdrawn their participation in the 24th CAHB Women's African Championship, as CAHB announced on their Facebook page on 1 June 2021. The below schedule has been updated accordingly. 

Playing format
The top two teams in each of the three preliminary groups plus the two best third-placed teams will qualify for the quarter-finals, which will then be followed by the semi-finals, bronze- and gold-medal matches.

Schedule
The championship throws off on Tuesday 8 June, with Nigeria playing DR Congo first, at 14:00 (local time), before the opening ceremony at 17:00 followed by host nation Cameroon taking on championship debutants Kenya at 18:00.

Fellow debutants Cape Verde and Madagascar then make history on Wednesday 9 June, when the Cape Verdeans face strong championship favourites and title holders Angola in the toughest possible stat, while Madagascar take on Senegal, who finished 18th at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship in Japan.

The preliminary round continues every day until Sunday 13 June, with classification matches on 14 June followed by the quarter-finals on 15 June. Further classification matches, plus the semi-finals take place on 16 June, with Thursday 17 June featuring 5-12 placement matches ahead of the bronze- and gold- medal matches on Friday 18 June.

(All times local, GMT+1)

Preliminary round

Tuesday 8 June
14:00    NGR vs COD (Group B)
17:00    Opening Ceremony
18:00    CMR vs KEN (B)

Wednesday 9 June
1400    SEN vs MAD (A)
1600    ANG vs CPV (C)
1800    TUN vs GUI (A)

Thursday 10 June
16:00    COD vs KEN (B)
18:00    CMR vs NGR (B)

Friday 11 June
14:00    MAD vs TUN (A)
16:00    CPV vs CGO (C)
18:00    GUI vs SEN (A)

Saturday 12 June
16:00    NGR vs KEN (B)
18:00    COD vs CMR (B)

Sunday 13 June
14:00    GUI vs MAD (A)
16:00    SEN vs TUN (A)
18:00    ANG vs CGO (C)

Monday 14 June
Classification round
16:00    4A vs 4B

Tuesday 15 June
Quarter-finals
12:00    1C vs 2B (QF3)
14:00    1A vs 1st Placed 3rd Ranked Group Team (QF1)
16:00    2C vs 2A (QF4)
18:00    1B vs 2nd Placed 3rd Ranked Group Team (QF2)

Wednesday 16 June
Classification Round 
10:00    Loser QF1 vs Loser QF3
12:00    Loser QF2 vs Loser QF4

Semi-finals
15:30    Winner QF1 vs Winner QF3
18:00    Winner QF2 vs Winner QF4

Thursday 17 June
5-12 Placement matches
14:00    7-8 Placement match
16:00    5-6 Placement match
18:00    9-10 Placement match (President’s Cup final)

Friday 18 June
TBC    Bronze-medal match
TBC    Gold-medal match

Referees
In addition to the CAHB continental referee pairs, the Russian IHF pair of Viktoriia Alpaidze and Tatiana Berezkina will also whistle at the championship.

For more information, visit www.cahbonline.info or the CAHB Facebook page.

Photo: CAHB