2026 Youth Olympic Games host nation Senegal are celebrating double gold success after winning the men’s and women’s beach handball titles at the 2025 ANOCA African Youth Games.

Taking place in Angola from 10 to 20 December, the fourth edition of the continental multi-sport event for athletes aged 14-17 years old included men’s and women’s beach handball competitions for the first time.

Organised by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), the event ‘…aims to promote sport while discovering and developing talents for competitions including the upcoming Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games…’ according to the ANOCA website.

The 2025 African Youth Games was held in Angola to coincide with the 50th anniversary of its independence and brought together 54 African nations participating in 33 sporting disciplines across six host cities, including capital city Luanda.

A total of 21 beach handball games took place across four matchdays from 14 to 17 December next to the BAI Arena in Luanda with Angola, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Togo competing in the 14-games women’s competition while Angola, Senegal and Togo played in the seven-game men’s event.

Senegal were dominant in the women’s competition, winning all four of their preliminary group games, before seeing off the hosts in the semi-final, which were made up of the top four teams after the first, preliminary stage which saw all teams play a quarter of games each.

The final saw a true, continental heavyweight clash as Kenya took the Senegalese side – coached by Ndeye Fatou Gueye, Khalifa Abdoul Aziz and Valérie Nicolas – all the way in the first set, narrowly losing 13:12. The second set saw Senegal go up a gear as they won by five to become the first-ever winners of the women’s title.

The more experienced beach handball nation of Togo outwitted the home side in the bronze medal match, but it took a shoot-out to do so, Togo winning 4:3 after Angola had come back from a clear first set loss (15:8) to win the second (15:12).

With just three teams in the men’s competition, the first stage was played in a round-robin format with each nation playing each other twice and the top two after the first six games had completed, then playing for gold.

Both Togo and Senegal won three of their four matches, defeating each other once, in the preliminary stage as the relatively inexperienced host side failed to register a single set win. The final saw a tight first set as Senegal took a 12:11 victory, but they showed their strength in the second, taking a six-point win (18:12).

The future in Africa is here

“We saw a very high level of play, with the teams improving throughout the competition and the remarkable progress of the players, who developed and improved as the tournament progressed, was noticeable,” said member of the CAHB (African Handball Confederation) Development Committee in charge of beach handball, Kamel Borgi, in his role as competition director of beach handball at the 2025 African Youth Games, to ihf.info.

“This was especially true considering they were young, and for some, it was their first competition. Matches are getting more and more exciting.

“The CAHB (appointed three, young referee pairs from Togo, Tunisia and Senegal as well as three technical delegates from Kenya, Togo and Cape Verde with Saydou Diouf overseeing the event as the CAHB representative,” he added.

“The beach handball competitions took place under good conditions. We thank the members of the organising committee, in particular its president Pedro Godinho, as well as Diouf Saydou, who did everything possible to meet the needs of the delegations and officials.”

2025 African Youth Games – Beach Handball

Final Rankings

Women’s competition
1 Senegal (SEN)
2 Kenya (KEN)
3 Togo (TOG)
4 Angola (ANG)
5 South Africa (KSA)

Men’s competition
1 Senegal (SEN)
2 Togo (TOG)
3 Angola (ANG)

Results

Women’s competition

Preliminary Round
KEN vs RSA 2-0 (20:5, 24:2)
ANG vs KEN 0-2 (6:10, 5:13)
TOG vs ANG 2-0 (5:4, 13:8)
SEN vs RSA 2-0 (16:0, 22:5)
SEN vs TOG 2-0 (22:4, 28:1)
ANG vs RSA 2-0 (11:4, 14:7)
KEN vs SEN 1-2 (3:14, 18:10, SO 8:9)
RSA vs TOG 1-2 (5:9, 6:3, SO 1:30
KEN vs TOG 2-0 (14:6, 22:10)
ANG vs SEN 0-2 (12:17, 5:18)

Semi-Finals
KEN vs TOG 2-0 (14:8, 24:12)
SEN vs ANG 2-0 (15:4, 16:8)

Bronze Medal Match
TOG vs ANG 2-1 (15:8, 12:15, SO 4:3)

Final/Gold Medal Match
SEN vs KEN 2-0 (13:12, 15:10)

Men’s competition

Round-robin
ANG vs TOG 0-2 (3:19, 10:20)
SEN vs TOG 2-0 (18:8, 8:6)    
ANG vs SEN 0-2 (5:26, 0:19)
TOG vs SEN 2-0 (18:17, 14:10)
SEN vs ANG 2-0 (22:4, 24:4)
TOG vs ANG 2-0 (22:3, 19:12)

Final/Gold Medal Match
SEN vs TOG 2-0 (12:11, 18:12)