The second batch of the National U-18 male handball team will today leave for the International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy Intercontinental Championship, after the first batch travelled yesterday for San Jose, Costa Rica. The championship holds from tomorrow to March 11.
Nigeria, currently African champions, will be featuring in the six days championship of the IHF junior competition for the second time in the history of the championship.
The team will play its first match on March 8 against Nicaragua and also meet Georgia, Guadaloupe, Nicaragua and Tahiti in a round-robin competition. Several of the players picked by Coach Emeka Nnamani for the championship, after camping at the Rowe Park Sports Centre in Lagos, are core members of the team that took part in the Africa Zone 3 tournament in Cote d’Ivoire and the continental tournament in Congo Brazzaville.
The Nigerian team finished second in the 2019 edition held in Pristina, Kosovo, losing by a narrow 26 to 27 margin to Chinese Taipei in the final. The Guardian recalls that the country’s representative qualified for the 2023 IHF Trophy Intercontinental by defeating Guinea 37-36 in the final of the IHF Trophy Continental Phase held in Brazzaville, Congo, earlier in the year.
The list of contingent to the championship includes the Coach Nnamani, two officials, Nnamani Joseph Emeka, Ayo Joshua, and the final list of the players, which include Kareem Faruk, Kuti Akorade, Sulaiman Azeez, Faloki Christian, Obabori Samuel, Mukiala Fuad, Mohammed Mustapha, Shagari John, Sulaiman Sani, Tahir lawal, Ajibike Kareem, Ojo Oluwagbanga and Isiyaka Mustapha.
