Champions National Cereals and Produce Board and Nairobi Water Queens retained their East and Central Africa Handball Federation (ECAHF) Club Championship titles at Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday.
The two Kenyan sides, who won the last championship in Zanzibar last year, had to fight tooth and nail to win it all.
NCPB beat an energised Gicumbi side from Rwanda 34-32 in a cracker while Water Queens stopped compatriots NCPB 27-24 in the ladies' final.
The men's game saw the visitors take a 2-0 lead but NCPB clawed back grittily to knot the contest 8-8 before taking a 17-16 lead at halftime.
After intermission, NCPB built a seven-goal cushion at 28-21 but it was not over as the Rwandese staged a gritty fight back to close in on the winners 31-32.
"We have had an amazing tournament. We knew they would fight to the end, but I wasn't worried at all," offered NCPB coach Bryan Mathews.
"We planned to be two or three scores ahead, but we panicked losing our last possession. Fortunately, they also fumbled and lost it."
Leading the scoring tally for NCPB was William Malui who had eight goals. Captain Timothy Kirimi had seven while Theodosia Sangoro scored five.
For the Rwandese, whose emotional coach felt they were done by the Kenyan referees, Kibwimana Emmanuel had seven and Akazu Andrew six.
"The game was easy but we also knew if we had two or three goals up, it wasn't going to be easy for them. We managed to win," captain Timothy Kirimi said.
In the women's category, Brenda Musambai shot Water Queens to a 4-1 lead after the losers had missed a penalty. But the determined Millers locked it 4-4, thanks to Vivian Edwach.
The match went back and forth, tying four times before NCPB's Berlin Achieng fired them to a 9-8 half-time margin.
In the last half, the winners saw their lead cut to 23-22, and it was at this time that Water Queens' captain Gladys Chilo took over the proceedings.
She rattled in three consecutive goals to end the game 27-24 which eased the nerves as the time expired amid jubilation from their fans.
"It was a tough and very competitive match. We approached it carefully and we had no choice but to give it 100 percent," said the inspirational Chilo.
"We went hard on defence and at times got punished by the refs. But our endurance carried the day for us," coach Jack Ochieng said.
"This was not our hardest game. Nkajja gave us problems as we conceded 37 goals which exposed our defence."
For the champions, Chilo tossed in eight goals as did Cecilia Katheu. NCPB had five goals each from Naomy Muyuka and Joan Akinyi.
"I am happy with girls. This is a huge step forward considering that many have never been in such a big competition before," said Mathews.
"Nkajja of Uganda and Rwanda Police finished third in the men's and women's categories as they beat Uganda Prisons and Jeshi La Kujenga Taifa (JKT) respectively.
