Rwanda: Lions to camp in Kigali ahead of African handball championship.

He said the Handball Lions are expected to camp in Kigali from January 8 to January 20. 

“This trip marks the start of an acclimatization training camp that will run until January 20, 2026. This event provides an excellent opportunity for our Lions to refine their strategy and strengthen their team cohesion,” Oumate said.

He expressed gratitude to the public authorities for efforts and the resources made available which have enabled the acclimatization training camp to take place.

Lions to participate in pretournament in Kigali 

According to Oumate, the Handball Lions will strengthen their preparation in Kigali by featuring in a pre-tournament friendly tourney in the Rwandan capital.

Oumate failed to disclose the number of teams expected to feature in the tournament nor the number of matches the Lions will play. 

H, however, stated that the strategic friendly will get underway on January 8 and roundup on January 13, a week before the 16-nation championship begins.

The two-week camp in the Rwandan capital will serve as the last lap of what has been a months-long preparation by the Handball Lions in the buildup to the forthcoming championship.

The series follows two separate camps organised by the team, principally in Japoma in Douala in the Littoral Region. The first preparatory camp in November 2025 assembled some 34 players selected mainly from the domestic league and some eight foreign-based stars. 

The second camp brought together some 31 players. It assembled players who were mostly retained from the first camp. It featured more diversity after some 13 foreign-based players made the cut in the list which is expected to be cut down to less than 20 players for the final squad.

Lions bracing to right decades-old wrongs

Cameroon is paired in Group C of the 2026 championship which runs from January 21 to January 31 bringing together 16 nations pooled in four groups of four teams each for the opening round.

The Handball Lions begin their campaign on Wednesday, January 21 against record 10-time champions, Tunisia.

The boys of coach Njantou Tabeth Bertin are chasing their first title in the competition. They will face Kenya at the BK Arena on Thursday January 22 in their second game before rounding up the group stage series on Saturday, January 24, against Guinea Conakry at the annex of the BK Arena. 

The team head to the tournament hoping to change Cameroon’s disturbing narrative in the continental showpiece. The Handball Lions finished as runners up to Tunisia in the inaugural 1974 edition of the biennial event in 1974, have not crossed the group stages of the competition since 2016, the team having flopped woefully in the 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 editions. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3667 of Thursday January 08, 2026