Angola beat Cameroon to retain African women's handball crown

Angola won their third successive Handball Championship title with a 25-15 win over hosts Cameroon in Yaounde on Friday. 

The defending champions had to sweat for their win and trailed 14-7 at halftime at the Multipurpose Sports Complex.

Bernardo Natalia Maria was phenomenal for the southern Africans while Cameroon's Ekoh Karismah gave the champions' defense a hard time.

The win gives Angola a boost ahead of next month’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where they will be the sole African representatives in the women’s tournament.

Hosts Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Montenegro, and South Korea are Angola's competition in the group stage.

North Africans Tunisia took emerged third after beating Congo 22-17 to pocket bronze.

Cameroonian players blamed a lack of focus for their defeat.

"We lacked lucidity I can say, we gave many balls to the opponent and that affected us," said Maffo Kamga, a Cameroonian middle back.

Angola, Cameroon, Tunisia, and Senegal which finished fourth will be Africa's representatives at the World Handball Championship due in Spain in December.