The head coach of Nigeria’s U-18 handball team, Emeka Nnamani, has released his final list of players who will represent the country at the IHF Trophy Africa men’s continental phase in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The IHF Trophy Africa men’s continental phase will be held at the Ethiopian Sports Academy in Addis Ababa from November 2 to November 6.
Ahead of the tournament, the national U-18 handball team has been undergoing intensive training preparation under the watchful eyes of Nnamani and assistant coach Joshua Olubato at the Rowe Park Sports Centre, Yaba, Lagos.
The team will travel on Friday morning via the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nigeria delegation will be led by Abdulqadir Mohammed, an executive board member of the Handball Federation of Nigeria representing the North-East zone.
The list of players includes top chaps such as captain Faruk Kareem alongside Azeez Olaitan, who won the MVP of the Ardova Handball Premier League 2023, and goalkeeper Samuel Obabori, all from Tojemarine Academy.
Others include Aliyu Rufai of Corrections Boys, Suliamon Sani of Niger United, Musa Mohammed of Safety Shooters, and Ganiu Aduragbemi of Lagos Seasider Boys of Lagos, amongst others.Speaking ahead of the championship, Nnamani said his players would make Nigeria proud at the competition as they aim to qualify for the IHF Trophy Intercontinental phase.
“These set of players are picked from a large pool of great handballing players in the U-18 category, and I know they will make our country proud as they did at the zonal phase in Ghana earlier in the year,” Emeka said.
Nigeria’s U-18 Handball team is the defending champion of the continental phase, which they won in Congo Brazzaville two years ago, after which they went on to finish third at the intercontinental phase in Kosovo.
The Nnamani-led team will represent the Africa Zone B region after defeating Ghana 33-25 to emerge as the champion of the IHF Trophy Men Africa Zone 3 Phase in Accra, Ghana, earlier in the year.
They will begin their IHF Trophy Africa men’s continental phase campaign against Zambia in the Youth (U-18) category on Saturday in Addis Ababa.