Despite losing the African Handball Championship to rivals Tunisia, Egypt still earned a berth in the World Championship in Sweden next year. Inas Mazhar reports Tunisia won the 19th African Handball Championship after beating defending champions and host nation Egypt 24-21. The win avenged Tunisia's loss of its title to Egypt in Angola in 2008. This is Tunisia's eighth African title. Algeria, which lost to Egypt in the semi-finals, has six and Egypt five. The North Africans have a hammerlock on the championship; no nation other than those three has ever worn the crown. Still, Tunisia will have two teams in the World Championships -- the men's will take part in the World Championship in Sweden next year whereas the women will be going to the will World Championship in Brazil. The African tournament acted as a qualifier to the World Championships, with the first three teams going automatically to the global event. Tunisia entered the final less tired than Egypt which had played a draining match against Algeria just a day earlier, as opposed to Tunisia's relatively easy time with DR Congo. Against Egypt the Carthage Eagles dominated from the beginning, leading by two goals at the half and at times up by four in the second. The Pharaohs pressed more in the second half and managed to level the score and in fact led once by a goal. But the Tunisians came back to equalise before taking the lead for good by three goals with only two minutes to go. Following the defeat, the Egyptian fans were gracious enough to cheer for their team, a rare reaction to such losses. In return, the team's players went up to the stands and thanked the spectators. After a thrilling victory over the DR Congo, the Algerian men's team made it to the podium after clinching the bronze medal. Algerian fans were disappointed when the women's team failed to win third place hours earlier but the men made amends at Cairo Stadium's indoor complex main hall. Algeria beat Congo DR 30-22 in what eventually became an easy affair. It was thought the Algerians would be dejected by their defeat to Egypt in the semis and would show it on the court. That, though, was not the case. The women's event was as exciting as the men's, with Angola successfully defending its title after beating Tunisia 31-30 in the last 10 second. The first half ended 14-13 in Angola's favour. The last minutes of the game were crucial. Angola was leading by two goals with five minutes to go but the Tunisians put on more pressure and managed to score back-to-back goals. The North Africans were supported by the Egyptian fans supporting a fellow Arab team. The Carthage women then narrowed the score to one with 10 seconds left, 31-30. But that would be all she wrote for Tunisia. The Angolans celebrated their triumph by touring the stadium, dancing and hugging each other and clapping for the local fans for their support. Cote d'Ivoire beat Algeria 32-28 in the play-off for third and fourth place. The Ivorians were better throughout the game held very early in the day. The first half ended with Cote d'Ivoire leading 17-13. Best player & top scorer: Ahmed El-Ahmar (Egypt) Best goalkeeper: Abdel-Malek Slahgi (Algeria) Best women's player: Mona Shbah (Tunisia) Top scorer: Mossia (Congo) Best goalkeeper: Gladice (Cote d'Ivoire) The Fair Play award was given to Egypt's women The men's final classification from first to 12th place: Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, DR Congo, Angola, Morocco, Nigeria, Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Libya and Cote d'Ivoire. Women: Angola, Tunisia, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Congo, Egypt, Cameroon and DR Congo. 2012 host to be named later The executive committee of the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) decided at its meeting yesterday in Cairo to postpone the announcement over who will host the 20th edition of the African Nations Cup to next August. So far Tunisia and Morocco are the only two nations who have applied to host the event. Vice president of the African Handball Confederation and member of the Executive Committee Medhat El-Beltagui said that CAHB had received the bidding files of the two countries. El-Beltagui said an inspection committee from CAHB will travel to both countries in order to assess the readiness of each. The inspection will include courts, hotels, transportation and training zones. He added that after the visits, the inspection committee will present its reports to the executive committee at its next meeting which will be held on the sidelines of the women's junior and youth championships in August. The announcement will be made then. The 2012 African Nations Cup will be a qualifying tournament for both the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the World Championship a year later.
