The hosts delighted the capacity crowd inside the Arena Leipzig - one of six being used for the tournament - with a dominant 28-15 victory.

The result saw the home side get off to the best possible start in their pursuit of a first World Championship medal since they won bronze at the 2007 edition of the event.

Cameroon were making only their second appearance at the competition and are only competing in Germany after Senegal were disqualified from the African Championship, a qualification for the World Championship, for fielding an ineligible player.

Germany endured a difficult start as Kim Naidzinavicius was injured in the warm-up and had to be replaced.

They overcame her absence, however, as they controlled the match from start to finish, taking advantage of a haphazard display from their Cameroonian opponents.

"It was amazing," Germany's Isabell Klein said.

"We were excited of course, we were really looking forward to this first match. 

"When we came to the hall it was amazing - 6,000 people are standing behind you, behind your back and are pushing you. 

"It was a great feeling.

"We didn’t know exactly what kind of handball to expect from Cameroon. 

"It’s not typical European handball, it’s African handball, so you could see sometimes in some situations we didn’t expect the things they did, but I think with time, more and more we got into the game - we found good solutions, we were more aggressive, clear in the head, really there, we marked, we scored."

The tournament is due to continue tomorrow with a full schedule of matches as action begins in the other three groups.