Egypt's men beat Gabon 27-21 in the 19th African Cup of Nations Handball Championship opener in Cairo on Thursday night after a short but sweet opening ceremony. The Pharaohs began their game with a mediocre performance with both teams head-to-head in the first half 12-12 each, with Egypt's key players lost their concentration. To rectify the situation, Egypt's coach Gamal Shams made some changes to increase attacks on the opponents net. Substitutes Belal Awwad and Mohamed Keshk led Egypt to 23-18, with Egypt finding a renewed vigour, ending the game 27-21. In the same competition, Nigeria's men started their campaign, but were held to a disappointing draw by the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Nasr Hall in Suez Thursday night. The Congolese led 12-11 at half time but the Nigerians came back strongly in the second half to earn the valuable draw. In the other matches, Cameroon were defeated 25-22 by Angola; Algeria thrashed Cote d'Ivoire 29-11 while Morocco claimed a 27-24 victory from CongoBrazzaville. The Egypt-Cameroon match started Friday night as The Gazette went to press. Egypt won the handball title five times in 1991, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008. Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are all strong candidates to win the competition.
