The Honourable Minister of Sports and Youth Development Mr. Sunday Dare has declared that Nigeria will be one of the best teams at the 24th Africa Women Handball Championship which will hold in Cameroon in June.
Mr. Dare made the statement when he paid an unscheduled visit to the camp of the Senior National Women Handball Team as they train ahead of the biennial handball continental women nations cup at the Aguiyu Ironsi Cantonment, Abuja.
The minister, who watched the training session of the ladies as their coaches put them into shape, was confident that the team would make the country proud in Cameroon and qualify for the World Championship.
He also charged the ladies to be of good conduct and ensure they take the competition seriously by qualifying for the world championship and put the nation on the global map of one of the best handballing teams in Africa.
“I watched some of these players at National Sports Festival and they really gave a good account of themselves”. Sports Minister, Sunday Dare said
“Seeing them now as they train hard to represent Nigeria at Africa Women Handball Championship give me the confidence they do will not just do well in Cameroon but also qualify for the World Championship”.
The Sports Minister assured the team and officials of the Handball Federation of Nigeria that the ministry will do everything possible to support their successful outing at the Championship as he charged the ladies to give a good fight and the ministry is proud of them regardless of the outcome of the Championship.
The National Women Team are in close intensive training ahead of Africa Women Handball Championship at Aguiyu Ironsi Cantonment in Abuja under the tutelage of assistant coach Yusuf Abdukadir who is filling in for France based head coach Rafiu Salami.
They will play in group B against DR Congo, Kenya and host Cameroon.
Nigeria is participating in their 9th Championship and the last time the women National team qualified for the championship was in 1994 when they came 5th in Tunisia.
They have won the competition once at the 1991 edition which was held in Egypt where they defeated Angola in the final and the only other time they were in the final was 1983 where they lost to Congo by 27-14.
The Africa Women Handball Championship 2021 will hold in Yaoundé, Cameroon from June 10 through to 20, 2021
