The tears at the end of the preliminary round group D match between Montenegro and Tunisia earlier this evening were shed by both teams as a 31:27 win for the North Africans sealed their passage through to the last 16 and put Montenegro on the brink of not qualifying for the eighth-finals for the first time in their appearances at this level.
History was made by Moez Ben Amor’s Tunisia as it was the first time in Tunisian women’s handball that they had made the second round of a world championship at any level – youth, junior or senior – in 18 attempts stretching back to 1975.
While the Tunisian women have had ‘higher’ positions on the global stage in the varying tournaments over the years, they have either been less teams in the tournament or a different format of competition.
Tunisia's 14th place finish at the 2001 junior world championship was with just 20 teams, and their 11th and 12th rankings in the 2006 and 2008 in the youth world championships were with 11 and 16 teams respectively.
A 12th place at senior level in 1975 was out of 12 teams and 15th and 14th in 2007 and 2009, were when the competition formats were different, with less teams in the fight for medals after the preliminary round.
“Making the eighth-finals is very important as it gives us a lot of energy to grow again and go ahead through this competition,” said Tunisia centre back and captain, Fadwa Aouij to IHF.info after she had finished celebrating in the changing room after the historic result.
“It’s important because this is the first time in the history of Tunisian women’s handball that a team have gone to the second phase and we have worked very, very hard for a long time and many years for this moment.”
After opening their Poland 2018 campaign with losses against the two toughest opponents in group D in France and Korea, Tunisia finally got off the mark yesterday, with a 10-goal win against Kazakhstan, to put the pressure on Montenegro tonight.
“We didn’t play well in those first two games because we hadn’t played enough preparation games before this world championship,” said Aouij. “We used these two matches like preparation for this stage of the group and tonight we put in a 100% effort to win.”
Coming into the match with 32 goals from her three previous games, Aouij was well-known by her opponents as threat, but during the warm-up she aggravated her ankle and spent the last 10 minutes before the match on the bench being seen to by the doctor, physio and team as she had her joint taped and bandaged.
Her appearance looked in doubt, but she played every second and picked up a best player award for her influence and 10 goals, moving her further ahead in the Poland 2018 top-scoring charts, on 42 strikes, 12 ahead of Korea’s Sumin Kim in second but even though she is happy for individual rewards, she is in no doubt what is most important.
“My teammates give me so much energy to help me play and for me to give the very best I can offer,” she said. “Before the game too many things happened to me, but in the game itself, I forgot everything and was 100% in the game.
“It’s really very important for me [to win the awards and be top scorer] but without the team I am nothing.
“My team work for me, and I work for them – like all of us do; we do this for our country and our flag, so if I am the top-scorer it is for Tunisia and for my team.”