Mixed fortunes for Nigerian youngsters at the IHF Challenge

It was a bittersweet start for the Nigeria's under-18 and 20 male handball teams as they played their first matches one day 1 of the IHF Challenge Trophy Continental phase in Brazzaville, Congo.

The u-18s put on a show to kickstart their journey with a win while their senior counterparts, the u-20s, suffered a narrow defeat in their opener.

The National under-18 team under the tutelage of coach Emeka Nnamani showed that they were in Brazzaville for serious business as they comfortably defeated Burundi 45 - 30.

For the National under-20 team, however, came up short as they lost narrowly to Guinea 28-26 to the disappointment of coach Fidelis Obi who is the gaffer of the side.

They have a chance of changing their fortune as they face Madagascar at 9am while the under 18 team hope to continue on their good form howbeit with a tough one against host, Congo at 3pm on Tuesday.

Coaches Nnamani and Coach Obi led their teams to victorious outings at the IHF Trophy Tournament for Africa Zone 3 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, thereby qualifying for the continental championship which will hold in Congo Brazzaville from January 16th to 20 2023.

All of the players who participated for the team had intensive training at Rowe Park Sports Center in Yaba, Lagos since the beginning of the year under the watchful eyes of their coaches and received technical support from the technical committee led by the head of technical of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN) Coach Bala Mohammed.