The 23rd edition of the African Men’s Handball Championship kicks off in Gabon today, January 17, 2018.

For two weeks the best teams on the continent will be vying for the prestigious trophy held by Egypt. The competition is taking place under the auspices of the African Handball Confederation and is a qualifying tournament for the World Championship.

The National Men’s Handball team is already in Gabon where they are fine-tuning their skills ahead of the competition. Cameroon is in Pool A with Tunisia, Algeria, Congo and host country Gabon.

The handball Lions will play the opening game today January 17, 2018 against Algeria at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Libreville at 11:00 a.m. They will play their second game on Thursday January 18, 2018 against Tunisia.

The competition promises to be tough as only the first four teams will qualify for the quarterfinals. Prior to their departure, the National Men’s Handball team trained in Sao Paulo, Brazil to ensure the best results in Gabon.

As part of their training, the National Men’s Handball team played several friendly matches with some teams in the Brazilian championship. Sources in Libreville say, training is going on smoothly under the supervision of Head Coach Simon Burchard Menguede.

Since the introduction of the competition in 1974, Cameroon has had 13 appearances and their best performance was in 1974 when they finished as runners up. Algeria has had 21 participations and has won the trophy seven times.

Only three countries have won the cup, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. Coach Burchard Menguede and his players are working out winning strategies in order to break the myth by winning today’s encounter. Their main goal is to qualify for the second round and win a ticket for the World Championship.