African Tourney: Team Nigeria’s Victories Excite Handball Boss

President of Handball Federation of Nigeria, HFN, Dauda Yusuf has expressed his satisfaction with the performance of the Nigerian teams at the just concluded Africa Handball Challenge Trophy in Ghana.

Nigerian junior male and female teams triumphed at the tourney that ended on Saturday, as they finished top of the podium, an improvement on the silver medal they won at the 2010 edition held in Cote d’Ivoire.

The federation boss said: “I am very happy with the exploits of our junior male and female players at the Ghana tourney. It did not come as a surprise to me because we prepared them for the challenges, which yielded the result we recorded in Ghana. I think we are reaping the benefit of good preparation and dedication of the players.”

He predicted that the Nigerian teams will be world champions someday.

“When I assumed the leadership of the HFN, I did not meet a good structure on ground. This led to the failure of our senior national teams, both male and female, to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. I embarked on youth development programme for us to nurture young players into the senior team. Now we’re beginning to reap the benefit, and very soon they would become world champions,” said Yusuf.

—Bamidele Olowosagba