Luanda - Senior women's handball confirmed, in 2023, its unquestionable hegemony in Africa, while marking significant steps in its rise to the rest of the world.
By Walter dos Reis and Marcelino Camões, ANGOP journalists
This reflection is supported by the evident fact that the 'Pearls', as the National Team is also called, have accumulated a record of 15 African Championship trophies, since winning the event, in their debut, in 1989, in Algeria.
Since then, Angola has been unbeatable, and in 18 participations in the prestigious continental event it has always remained on the podium, registering a second place in the edition of Egypt'1991. Nigeria were the champions.
In 1996, in Benin, the national team finished third. Côte d'Ivoire was crowned champion, followed by Algeria, repeating the last podium position (bronze medal) in 2014, in Algeria, surpassed by Tunisia (1st) and DRC (2nd).
The year that ends was marked by the eighth qualification for the Olympic Games, which will take place in the French capital, Paris, in September 2024, in addition to the presence, for the 17th time, in a final phase of the World Cup.
The participation in the Paris Games was a challenge for Angolan women's handball, with a view to moving on to the initial phase of the tournament, where the best teams in the global ranking will obviously parade.
Held in September, at the Kilamba Multipurpose Pavilion in Luanda, Angola finished the pre-Olympic tournament undefeated, with a victory in the final over Cameroon, by 27-21.
With three wins in as many games, the team defeated Senegal in the 1st round, by 22-21, and in the second Congo, by 30-15.
The Angolan team has already been to the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012), Rio de Janeiro (2016) and Tokyo (2020).
At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Angola ranked eighth.
Now, at the World Championships in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the national team has left a serious warning of the power it has become in the context of nations. France, the defending runners-up and Olympic champions, felt the brunt of it.
In the opening match of the competition (November 30), Angola lost to this power of women's handball by only one goal difference (29-30), in a balanced match, to the point that there were more than a handful of draws throughout regular time.
At the last second, the captain of the Pearls, Isabel Guialo, still shot at the side post, making it clear that victory or a draw was possible for both teams.
In fact, it was not the first time that Angola gave a scare to the great powers of world handball, and particularly to the French team, after the 29-27 victory in the 2007 World Cup, in a competition in which it was in 7th position, the best classification ever in history.
It is good to remember that Angola's African dominance in women's is evident even in the lower echelons. For example, at the junior level, Angola holds the African title, with a total of 11 trophies in the gallery.
In cadets, success has been progressive, in the last continental competition in this category, Angola was in fourth position, one step less to the podium.
As for the men, the year that ends sees the participation in the African Championship from 19 to 29 January in Cairo (Egypt).
To this end, coach Filipe Cruz was rescued four years later to secure a place on the podium, having Tunisia, Nigeria and Kenya as opponents in the initial phase, group D.
For the men's hand-held modality, the presence in the World Championships in 2005, 2007 and 2017 and the gold medal in the African Games in Rabat2019 stand out.
Filipe Cruz has already won, with the men, two bronze medals at the 2016 and 2018 African Nations Championships, silver medal at the Maputo 2011 and Brazzaville 2015 Pan African Games.
At club level, Petro de Luanda and 1.º de Agosto have been imposing supremacy in the competitions of the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) for many years.
This year (2023), the “tricolores” won the Super Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup, while the “military” snatched the Champions Clubs' Cup.
Petro is the most successful club in Africa in terms of women's handball, with a record 42 titles, of which 19 in the Africa Cup of Champions, 16 in the Super Cup and 7 in the Cup Winners' Cup.
The 1.º de Agosto team was world champion in 2019, defeating the Chinese team from the Chinese National Club, by 27-22, in the final of the first edition of SUPER GLOBE, a competition organized by CAHB.
Among the achievements of the 'military' is also five trophies of the Babacar Fall Super Cup, a competition disputed between the winners of the African Cup of Champions Clubs and those of the Cup Winners' Cup.
The Angolan Handball Federation ended the year 2023 with an administrative act of great relevance, in November, in an action held at the National School of Administration and Public Policies (ENAPP), in Luanda, with the motto 'Vision 2030 - Looking to the Future and Towards Excellence'.
The holding of the 1st International Handball Conference, in two days, aimed to collect contributions so that the country has a strategic development plan in the medium and long term.
More than a hundred people, including managers, technicians, former practitioners, sponsors and other agents attended the forum, which was attended by speakers from Angola, Portugal and Spain.
Topics such as 'Infrastructure Managers' were discussed, with Rogério Silva, former president of the Angolan Olympic Committee, 'Social Communication'-Teixeira Cândido, Secretary-General of the Union of Journalists and 'Financing and Sponsors'-José Matoso, as speakers. WR/MC/VM/DOJ
