Handball team targets trophy

After some doubts over its participation in the 19th edition of the African Men Handball Championship due to the lack of sponsorships, the Nigerian men handball national team will today leave for Cairo, Egypt to campaign for its first continental trophy.

Twelve countries will contest in the competition from February 11-20 with the top three countries picking up the tickets to represent Africa at the 2011 World Men’s Handball Championships slated for Sweden.

Time, greatest setback

Speaking to NEXTsports ahead of the team’s departure, the coach of the team, Baba Isa Alabi, said the team’s target is to lift the trophy, though he admits that three weeks camping might not be adequate for the challenges at hand:

“We’ve spent about three weeks in camp and we’ve been able to trim the players from 22 to 16, including three foreign based players and our aim is to win the trophy. Three weeks is not enough but you cannot do with what you don’t have so we had to manage.

“We had the right equipment but time was our greatest setback. I believe we would have done more if the time was there.”

Tough opponents

Nigeria is pooled in Group A in the preliminary round alongside Tunisia, which has won the championships a record of seven times, Democratic Republic of Congo and Libya.

The country finished sixth in the last edition which took place in Angola in 2008. Speaking on the team’s chances against their opponents, Alabi said, “We have played all these countries in the past and we’ve been able to fare better against Republic of Congo and Libya but most times we’ve been beaten by Tunisia.

“They are all tough countries so right now I can’t even say which is the toughest. It will not be easy because after the last edition, we’ve not participated in any competition.”

The country will be represented by a 21-man contingent which includes 14 players, three coaches, a medical officer, a physiotherapist, the secretary and the president of the federation, Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu.

All matches will take place in Cairo and Suez.