Angola’s women and Tunisia’s men stood on top of the podium at the 19th African Championships in Egypt. As it was the tenth African Nations title for Angola, Tunisia won Gold for the eight time.

Angola beat Tunisia in a high tensioned women’s final which was decided only ten seconds before the end, 31:30. Tunisia won against the men’s team of host nation Egypt 24:21. As those four teams had been qualified for the next World Championships before, the men from Algeria and the women from Ivory Coast snatched the last tickets to Sweden (men) and Brazil (women) and took the Bronze medals. Algeria had no problems in winning against DR Congo 30:22, Ivory Coast finished the hopes of the Algerian women to qualify for WCH’s with both national teams by winning 32:28.

The finals of the 19th African Nations Championships were totally different: As the spectators in Cairo saw a complete equal women’s final, the men’s final was quite one sided. Tunisia was fresher after their easy victory in the semi against DR Congo, as the Egypt team lacked some powers after the hard struggle against Algeria the day before. Tunisia was much more determined to win and was in lead temporarily with a four goal distance after the break. Even as Egypt could catch up and led with one goal, the “Carthage Eagles” dominated the final stage of the game again and took a well deserved victory. Top scorers of the game were Achmed Mustafa (Egypt/6 goals) and Haykel Mgannem (Tunisia/5 goals).

Even as the Tunisian girls were frenetically supported by the Egypt spectators, Angola took the victory in the women’s final. The two leading African nations were equal for 60 minutes. Angola led 14:13 at the break and with a two goal difference five minutes before the end – but the young Tunisian team equalized, but didn’t manage to take the lead, as Angola scored the decisive goal ten seconds before the end. Top scorers of the final were Luis Kiala (Angola) and Ines Khouldi (Tunisia) with each nine goals.
 
Final Rankings of the 19th African nations Championships:
Men: Gold: Tunisia, Silver: Egypt, Bronze: Algeria, 4. DR Congo, 5. Angola, 6. Morocco, 7. Nigeria, 8. Congo, 9. Gabon, 10. Cameroon, 11. Libya, 12. Ivory Coast
Women: Gold: Angola, Silver: Tunisia, Bronze: Ivory Coast, 4. Algeria, 5. Congo, 6. Egypt, 7. Cameroon, 8. DR Congo
 
Awards:
Men:
Best Player: Ahmed El-Ahmar (Egypt)
Top scorer: Ahmed El-Ahmar (Egypt/38 goals)
Best goalkeeper: Abdel-Malek Slahgi (Algeria)
Women:
Best Player: Mona Shbah (Tunisia)
Top scorer: Mwange Mwasesa  (DR Congo/54)
Best goalkeeper: Gladice (Cote D'Ivoir)
Fair Play Award: Egypt women team

Text from Björn Pazen