DR
Congo’s capital city Kinshasa saw four days of match action this past week as
teams from across the region in both the youth and junior age categories competed
for the 2019 IHF Women’s Trophy - Africa Zone IV title.
In
the end, both Cameroon teams took gold, beating the host nations in their
respective youth (Under 17, born in 2002 and younger) and junior (U19, born in
2000 and younger) finals.
Four
nations were competing in the tournament: Central African Republic (CAF),
Cameroon (CMR), DR Congo (COD) and Morocco (MAR), but due to their passports
not being presented correctly, the Central African Republic (CAF) were allowed
to compete, but not able to be ranked, and the late arrival of the Cameroon
youth team saw them forfeit their first game, against CAF.
All
games were played at the Kinshasa Renes French School (Lycée Francais de
Kinshasa Renes) hall and an outdoor court, Tata Rafael Ground (Terrain Tata
Rafael) with games outside reduced to two halves of 25 minutes each due to
climatic conditions.
Both
the junior and youth competitions were played in a round-robin league format,
with all teams playing each other once. The top two in each group will then
played off for the gold medal and third and fourth place for bronze.
Following
the completion of the preliminary group stage, DR Congo topped their group with
three wins out of three and a goal difference of +43, followed by Central
African Republic, Cameroon and Morocco, with two points each.
In
the junior competition, the host nation were also top with six points out of
six and a goal difference of +39, in second spot was Cameroon with four points
(+50 goal difference), followed by Morocco, on two points and Central African
Republic on zero.
The
two bronze medal matches saw Morocco take on Central African Republic and it
was the Moroccans who grabbed both medals on offer. Firstly, their youth side
easily won 18:8, but it was a different story in the junior final as it took
seven-metre throws to separate the two teams who could not be separated in
normal time. In the end Morocco ran out 27:26 winners.
The
final saw the host nation fans expect a double gold medal performance as their
teams took on Cameroon in the finals as both their junior (31:23) and youth
teams (20:17) had beaten the Cameroonian teams in the Preliminary Group stage.
However,
it was not to be as a massive swing in form saw Cameroon’s youth side take a
13:7 in the first half, before winning 21:17, while the junior team won by
eight goals (30:22), having gone four goals up at the break (13:9).
With
their victories, both Cameroon teams have now qualified through to the African
continental phase of the IHF Women’s Trophy 2019-20 to be held in the future,
with the winners of that then qualifying through to the IHF Women’s Trophy - Intercontinental
Phase.
RANKING
Youth
(U17) Competition
1
Cameroon
2
DR Congo
3
Morocco
4
Central African Republic
Junior
(U19) Competition
1
Cameroon
2
DR Congo
3
Morocco
4
Central African Republic
RESULTS
Wednesday 22 May
Youth
(U17) Competition
CAF
vs CMR Forfeited, due to late arrival of CMR
COD
vs MAR 31:3 (17:0)
Junior
(U19) Competition
MAR
vs CAF 28:21 (13:11)
COD
vs CMR 31:23 (16:13)
Thursday 23 May
Youth
(U17) Competition
CMR
vs MAR 26:10 (11:6)
CAF
vs COD 8:20 (2:10)
Junior
(U19) Competition
CAF
vs CMR 13:28 (2:11)
COD
vs MAR 29:15 (14:4)
Friday 24 May
Youth
(U17) Competition
MAR
vs CAF 21:16 (7:7)
COD
vs CMR 20:17 (13:9)
Junior
(U19) Competition
CMR
vs MAR 29:17 (15:7)
CAF
vs COD 13:30 (7:15)
Saturday 25 May
Rest Day
Sunday 26 May
Youth
(U17) Competition
Bronze Medal: MAR vs CAF 18:8 (12:4)
Gold
Medal: CMR vs COD 21:17 (13:7)
Junior
(U19) Competition
Bronze
Medal: CAF vs MAR 25:26 (7:10)
Gold
Medal: COD vs CMR 22:30 (9:13)