By Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line
…Egypt May Equal Algeria’s Record of 10 wins with unrivaled 4 Title wins in a row on Saturday.
NIGERIA ON Friday night in Kigali lost a vital ticket to the International Hockey Federation world cup in Germany next year by whiskers bowing to the dominance of Angola 25-20 with half time scores at Nigeria 19 to Angola 9.
The 200 fans at the stands had concluded an upset from Nigeria until Angola became highly tactical forcing Nigeria’s highest scorer in the tournament Yusuf Farouk to collect a straight red card after he had scored three goals.
Nigeria started struggling under the jinx of “they will never score more than 24 goals against Angola” when at scoring 18 goals Angola suddenly came up to make goals difference to be +4 and later +5 till the final whistle was blown.
It was an obviously disappointed Nigerian team that sat on the pitch thinking what hit them as they yearned to be in Germany after the International Hockey federation had given five tickets to Africa. That means Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria that Nigeria had beaten along the line, Cape Verde and Angola that will be in Germany.
Nigeria began with a shocking defeat of Tunisia 25-23; mauled Zambia 36-16; rounded up hosts Rwanda 30-20; lost to Angola 24-27; was humbled by defending African, three times back to back, Egypt 22-48 and then narrowly piped Guinea 30-28.
Angola beat Uganda 37-21; bowed to Egypt 28-41; grabbed Gabon by the jugular 33-21; narrowly defeated Nigeria 27-24; lost to Algeria 22-27 and then beat Morocco 27-20.
Nigeria was 4th in 1998; 5th at Benin 1996; placed 6th twice at Tunisia 1981 and Angola 2008.
Angola won Bronze thrice in 2004, 2016 and 2018 also placed 4th four times in 2006, 2008 2014 and 2020.
Nigeria had looked jinx against Angola not scoring more than 24 goals on any meeting and never defeated Angola. On 17th January 2018 Angola won 28-16; on 16th January 2020 Angola won 30-24; on 7th January 2024 Angola defeated Nigeria 26-24 and in this tournament, Angola had beaten Nigeria 27-24.
Results have been pouring in from Kigali in Rwanda for ranking placements of the 27th edition of the tournament. We will start from the bottom where Kenya beat Uganda 38-29 goals to be the 15th team out of 16. Benin outscored Zambia 42-25 to be 13th in Africa; Congo hammered hosts Rwanda 30-20to place 11th.
Gabon narrowly defeated Cameroon 29-27 to place 9th; the match between Morocco and Guinea was very tough becoming the first to be decided by penalty shootouts after it ended 33-33 that Morocco finally won 38-37 to place 7th.
Egypt, the defending champions of the tournament that has won the title for a good 9 times after Tunisia that has won the title a record 10 times is on course to equal the Tunisian record of 10 wins as she thrashed Cape Verde 32-26 goals with half time scores at 16-11 in favor of Egypt in the first semifinal.
In the second semifinal Tunisia overcame Algeria 33-24 goals with half time scores at 19-14 in favor of Tunisia to vie for her 11th title on Saturday.
Cape Verde will contest with the Algeria team for a Bronze fight tomorrow Saturday at 11am while Egypt will line up against Tunisia in the grand finale on Saturday at 3pm to know the African champions.
Three countries have significantly dominated Men’s Handball in Africa. Tunisia had won 25 medals (10 Gold, 8 Silver and 7 Bronze); Egypt has 21 medals (9 Gold, 6 Silver and 6 Bronze) and Algeria has 20 medals of 7 Gold, 8 Silver and 5 Bronze.
The tournament that started Wednesday 21st January is expected to draw her curtain on 31st January and this tournament will stand as qualifications for Africa’s representatives at the World Men’s Handball Championship in Germany in 2027.
The next Men’s world Handball cup tournament will take place in Germany from 13th to 31st January 2027 with 32 teams on parade, five from each Confederation.
#HACON2026 #AHBF #EHF
#NSC #NHF #AHF
