The island of Sal in the West African nation of Cape Verde is currently hosting the first-ever edition of the African Beach Games, with both the men’s and women’s beach handball competitions already finishing on the sand at Santa Maria Beach.

Incorporating the first-ever African Beach Handball Championships too, north African nation Tunisia won both the men’s and women’s competitions to not only book their ticket to the 2020 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships but for the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in Qatar in October.

The men’s competition featured nine teams: Cape Verde (CPV), Sierra Leone (SLE), Morocco (MAR), Tunisia (TUN), Kenya (KEN), Nigeria (NGR), Togo (TOG), Algeria (ALG) and Seychelles (SEY) in three initial preliminary groups of three teams each with the winners of each one, plus the best runners-up moving through to the semi-finals.

Tunisia’s men beat Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco on their way to the final, where they faced Togo, beating them 2-0, to make it four 2-0 wins out of four. Nigeria beat Morocco 3:2 in a shoot-out grab bronze.

The women’s competition featured five teams: Cape Verde (CPV), Algeria (ALG), Kenya (KEN), Sierra Leone (SLE) and Tunisia (TUN), playing in one group in a round-robin format with the winners taking gold.

Like the male side, Tunisia won all their games 2-0, against Sierra Leone, Algeria, Cape Verde and Kenya to take gold, although they were made to work hard against Kenya in the first period, narrowly winning 16:15. Host nation Cape Verde grabbed silver with three wins and Algeria finished third, to win bronze, with two wins.

 

FINAL RANKING

Women’s Competition

1 – Tunisia

2 – Cape Verde

3 – Algeria

4 – Kenya

5 – Sierra Leone

 

Men’s Competition

1 – Tunisia

2 – Togo

3 – Morocco

4 – Nigeria

5 – Cape Verde

6 – Algeria

9= Kenya, Seychelles, Sierra Leone

 

RESULTS

 

MEN’S COMPETITION

Friday 14 June

CPV vs SLE 2-0 (12:10, 33:8)

TUN vs KEN 2-0 (15:6, 21:7)

TOG vs ALG 2-0 (10:8, 11:8)

SLE vs MAR 0-2 (7:24, 6:21)

KEN vs NGR 0-2 (10:23, 6:28)

ALG vs SEY 2-0 (18:5, 17:6)

 

Saturday 15 June

CPV vs MAR 0-2 (6:9, 7:13)

TUN vs NGR 2-0 (17:12, 20:14)

TOG vs SEY 2-0 (20:8, 20:7)

Semi-Final 1: MAR vs TUN 0-2 (6:18, 12:18)

Semi-Final 2: TOG vs NGR 2-1 (6:14, 13:7, SO 6:5)

5/6 Placement Match: CPV vs ALG  2-1 (9:10, 11:4, SO 5:1)

 

Sunday 16 June

Bronze Medal Match: NGR vs MAR 1-2 (10:11, 14:6, SO 2:3)

Gold Medal Match: TOG vs TUN 0-2 (7:11, 11:15)

 

WOMEN’S COMPETITION

 

Friday 14 June

CPV vs KEN 2-0 (12:9, 17:6)

TUN vs SLE 2-0 (18:3, 26:7)

KEN vs SLE 2-0 (16:11, 20:9)

ALG vs TUN 0-2 (8:10, 5:16)

 

Saturday 15 June

ALG vs SLE 2-0 (17:12, 18:2)

CPV vs TUN 0-2 (6:16, 5:18)

ALG vs KEN 2-0 (12:7, 16:15)

CPV vs SLE 2-0 (26:10, 20:5)

KEN vs TUN 0-2 (15:16, 12:17)

 

Sunday 16 June

CPV vs ALG 2-0 (17:10, 17:12)

 

For full PDF reports and statistics visit the official Website at www.sal2019.com or go directly HERE.

 

Photos: CAHB