Tunisia come from behind to take African junior women’s title

Tunisia’s 2000-02 generation have won the 2019 CAHB Women’s African Junior Championship in Niamey, Niger, after coming from behind against pre-tournament favourites Angola in a nail-biting final.

The championship win is Tunisia’s first-ever women’s continental title at the junior level after five second place finishes – four of which were behind their final opponents.

Alongside host nation Niger (NIG), Angola (ANG), Senegal (SEN), Congo (CGO), Guinea (GUI), DR Congo (COD), Tunisia (TUN), Algeria (ALG) and Benin (BEN) were all fighting it out in Niamey with the aim of winning a medal and grabbing one of three qualification places through to the 2020 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship.

Angola and Tunisia had dominated their preliminary groups, taking a 100% record through to the semi-finals, where both had smooth wins – Tunisia against Guinea (39:27) and Angola against DR Congo (27:14).

In the final, Angola led 15:14 at the break, but a spirited second half performance from the North Africans saw them overcome the one-goal deficit to fight back and win 26:25.

After losing their semi-finals DR Congo and Guinea faced off in the 3/4 placement match knowing that not only a medal was up for grabs, but the final continental qualification spot through to the 2020 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship was there for the taking.

In the end, Guinea were relatively easy winners, taking a six-goal lead into the break (17:11) before powering ahead to win by 12 (37:25). The third-place finish for Guinea is their first medal in their second-ever appearance in the competition and their appearance next year in the junior world championship will be their debut at the global event.

RANKING
1 Tunisia
2 Angola
3 Guinea
4 DR Congo
5 Senegal
6 Congo
7 Algeria
8 Benin
9 Niger

RESULTS (12, 13, 14 September)

Thursday 12 September
Placement Round 5-8: SEN vs BEN 32:27 (13:16)
Placement Round 5-8: ALG vs CGO 28:32 (16:11)
Semi-Final 1: ANG vs COD 27:14 (11:6)
Semi-Final 2: GUI vs TUN 27:39 (16:20)

Friday 13 September
7/8 Placement Match: BEN vs ALG 26:30 (13:15)
5/6 Placement Match: SEN vs CGO 27:26 (14:11)

Saturday 14 September
3/4 Placement/Bronze Medal Match: COD vs GUI 25:37 (11:17)
Final: ANG vs TUN 25:26 (15:14)

Previous Results

Preliminary Group A: Angola (ANG), Senegal (SEN), Congo (CGO), Guinea (GUI)
Preliminary Group B: DR Congo (COD), Tunisia (TUN), Algeria (ALG), Benin (BEN), Niger (NIG)

Thursday 5 September
SEN vs GUI 33:37 (14:17)
TUN vs BEN 35:21 (16:8)
NGR vs ALG 15:34 (10:15)

Friday 6 September
ANG vs CGO 30:15 (15:9)

Saturday 7 September
SEN vs CGO 33:26 (17:10)
ANG vs GUI 35:28 (13:13)
TUN vs ALG 28:18 (13:8)
COD vs NIG 30:18 (15:6)

Sunday 8 September
COD vs BEN 29:24 (14:9)
TUN vs NIG 51:13 (23:7)

Monday 9 September
CGO vs GUI 33:33 (21:15)
COD vs ALG 30:25 (17:16)
BEN vs NIG 40:20 (20:10)

Tuesday 10 September
COD vs TUN 17:35 (4:18)
ALG vs BEN 36:30 (19:17)
ANG vs SEN 31:17 (13:9)

Wednesday 11 September
Rest Day