Cameroon, Angola and Senegal will battle it out for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Indomitable Lionesses got off to a bad start at the Women’s Handball World Championship with two consecutive defeats. After losing to Montenegro (25-11) and Hungary (30-20), they qualified for the main round with a 26-23 win over Paraguay on the final day. Having finished as finalists in the last two editions of the AFCON, Cameroon’s aim was to qualify for the next round in their fourth appearance at the world finals, as coach Bérin Njantou confided.

“Our aim is to reach the last eight and we think we have what it takes. We’ll give it our all and play our hearts out,” said the coach before the start of the competition. Mission accomplished. Cameroon kick off their three-game series against Sweden on Thursday 7 December (19:30 GMT), followed by Croatia and Senegal.