Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, saw the 2017 CAHB African Women’s Youth Championship go right down to the last matches, as Egypt won all six of their games to end with a perfect record and take the continental honours.

 

The competition was played on a round-robin basis with all seven teams – Angola (ANG), Egypt (EGY), Algeria (ALG), DR Congo (COD), Côte d'Ivoire (CIV), Senegal (SEN) and Tunisia (TUN) – playing each other and the team who finished top of the group crowned champions.

 

Each of the seven match days saw three games played at the Polyvalente Sports Park in Abidjan with a team sitting out on a rest day.

 

Champions Egypt rested on the first day, but then beat Senegal (33:17), Côte d'Ivoire (23:8), Algeria (36:14), Tunisia (23:19), Angola (25:22) and DR Congo (33:19) to retain the title they won back in 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya, after winning the round-robin competition back then which featured just four teams.

 

The table ended with Egypt top, on 12 points, Tunisia and Angola on nine points each in second and third respectively with Senegal in fourth on six points. DR Congo finished with four points in fifth and then hosts Côte d'Ivoire in sixth on two points, thanks to their win against Algeria in their last match, meaning the Algerians finished bottom, without any points.

 

The key result for Egypt was that 25:22 win over Angola in their fifth match, after both sides started the day with eight points each. The two points for the Egyptians put them onto 10 points, with a two-point cushion going into their final match day against DR Congo.

 

As it happened, their two closest rivals, Angola and Tunisia, could only draw their final match 26:26, which meant Egypt ended with a three-point lead after all the matches had finished.

 

However, all three teams were celebrating as their final ranking meant Egypt, Tunisia and Angola all qualified through to the 2018 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship to be held in Poland.

 

RESULTS

 

11 September

ANG vs COD 26:19

TUN vs ALG 41:30

CIV vs SEN 25:28

 

12 September

COD vs ALG 26:20

TUN vs CIV 41:28

EGY vs SEN 33:17

 

13 September

ANG vs ALG 37:18

CIV vs EGY 8:23

TUN vs SEN 30:26

 

14 September

ALG vs EGY 14:36

SEN vs ANG 22:23

COD vs CIV 27:22

 

15 September

EGY vs TUN 23:19

SEN vs COD 27:18

CIV vs ANG 25:28

 

16 September

COD vs TUN 22:38

CIV vs ALG 28:24

EGY vs ANG 25:22

 

17 September

ALG vs SEN 29:42

EGY vs COD 33:19

ANG vs TUN 26:26

 

FINAL RANKING

1 – Egypt

2 – Tunisia

3 – Angola

4 – Senegal

5 – DR Congo

6 – Côte d'Ivoire

7 – Algeria