The DR Congo won the maiden edition of CHAN in Ivory Coast

Holders DR Congo got off to a bad start at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) on Sunday when they were defeated 2-0 by Cameroon in Sudan.

Boasting 11 players from the African club champions TP Mazembe, the Leopards were expected to win the Group C match.

But goals in either half from Julien Moumasso and Ismaila Baba sealed the victory for the Indomitable Lions.

Cameroon took a deserved lead two minutes before the break when Moumasso slotted in from the edge of the box.

Baba struck in the 78th for the Lions to claim the vital win over the holders, who won the tournament exclusively for home-based players two years ago.

Cameroon coach Emmanuel Doumbe admitted before the game in Omdurman, across the river Nile from Sudanese capital Khartoum, that some of his footballers were so raw they trained under floodlights for the first time last week.

"I wondered why my players were mistiming so many headers from crosses until some of them admitted they were distracted by the novelty of floodlights and were constantly staring at them," Doumbe.

Ivory Coast defeated Mali 1-0 through a 23rd-minute Zoumana Kone goal in the second game to banish fears they would flop again after finishing bottom of a group when hosting the first Nations Championship two years ago.

Meanwhile, two matches will be played on Monday in Group D in Port Sudan.

Senegal will be hoping to improve on their performance from the first edition of the CHAN in Ivory Coast when they finished fourth.

The Teranga Lions open their campaign against debutants Rwanda while Angola and Tunisia clash in the group's other game.

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