HANDBALL: The Lionesses team disqualified from the Olympic qualifying tournament, the Federation has turned the page.

That's what we learnt from our visit to the Cameroon Handball Federation this week to find out more about the disqualification of the women's handball team from the Olympic qualifying tournament in Hungary. The federation prefers to turn the page and look to the future. While some sports players feel that the federation has not done its job.

While the Cameroon Handball Federation is keen to move on and forget the scenario of the lack of visas that led to the disqualification of the women's national handball team from the Olympic qualifying tournament from April 11 to 14 this year, this is not the case for some sports players who firmly believe that the problem stems directly from the negligence of the federation and the state of Cameroon, which do not take the sport seriously.

Indeed, Paola Ebanga, one of the team's professional hanballers who had turned down the national selection because of certain irregularities, finds the situation unjustifiable: “Our Federation was very late in applying for visas. The competition has been scheduled since the World Cup, we've been waiting for it since October, the players are the same, the team hasn't changed. All we know is that the documents have not been validated. Which ones? Why? How? asks Paola Ebanga. The Indomitable Lioness of handball also points an accusing finger at the State, which doesn't take handball seriously: “The problem is also the State, if our sport was taken seriously, this wouldn't have happened”.

The Cameroonian people have not digested the disqualification of the women's team from the Olympic qualifying tournament in favor of Great Britain. According to the federation's version of events, the German consulate in Yaoundé, which is responsible for visas, failed to examine the women's team's files for lack of insurance certificates. However, it is an environment of calm and silence that reigns within the Federation. That's what we found when we visited the Federation's offices in Yaoundé's administrative center, a stone's throw from the Sports Minister's office. In these offices, the people authorized to provide information to the media, starting with the Federation president and the communicators, are absent.

However, an inside source tells us that the federation no longer wishes to talk about it, and is now thinking about the upcoming competitions with the other categories. At least, a few weeks ago, Son Daniel Injek, in charge of communications at the Cameroon Handball Federation, in an interview on public web television, pointed the finger at one of the officials at the German Embassy in Yaoundé, who was not convinced by Awa Aissa's answer to a question.

A situation that is causing unrest within Cameroonian handball, and risks causing a diplomatic incident between the two countries. With Cameroon absent, the international federation has invoked article 4 paragraphs 1, 2 and 03 of its competition regulations to serve and find a replacement to take Cameroon's place at this tournament. Following an ordinary meeting of the IHF Executive Committee, several countries were approached. In the end, Great Britain was chosen to replace Cameroon, joining Hungary, Japan and Sweden. As for Cameroon, this was the only route leading to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, so Cameroonian handball will be one of the big absentees.

J. Patrick DJON