Femi Atolagbe

Nigeria’s under 18 women handball team has yesterday begun intensive training in Lagos ahead of the IHF Women’s Trophy Intercontinental Phase holding in Uzbekistan.

The IHF Women’s Trophy Intercontinental Phase which is the last competition of the IHF Women’s Trophy 2023/2024, will hold in Uzbekistan from February 28th to March 3rd 2024 and Nigeria , as the Africa champion, will represent the continent, after triumphing over the rest of the continent, first in the Africa zone 3 tourney in Ghana and the continental phase in Ivory Coast last year.

To this end Coach Shittu Adewunmi Agboola has invited eighteen players to resume camping yesterday at the Rowe Park Sports Center in Lagos and several of them were part of the team that did well in the IHF Women’s Trophy Africa Zone 3 and the continental phase as well as the team that historically qualified for the IHF Under 18 Women’s Championship as they came third at Africa Women’s Under 18 Championship in Monastir, while some new players were invited as well.

Captain Esther Matthew, the Babatunde twins of Tojemarine Academy, Goalkeeper Precious Samuel, Rahima Bello, Amina Mohammed of Rima Queens as well as Damilola Akinlade of Delta Queens and Amarachi Oparaugo of Imo Grasshoppers are some of the players returning to the team while Joan Okolo, Emmamuzo Emuore of Delta Queens and Oluwatoyin Ogunsakin of Ekiti Fountain are some of the new players invited to camo by Coach Shittu Agboola.

Nigeria will play in the youth category of the competition alongside Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Kosovo, New Caledonia and host Uzbekistan starting from Wednesday February 28th.