7th February, 2011
There is no doubt that 2011 would be a busy year for both handball players and officials as the Nigeria Handball Federation, NHF, released a loaded programme for the New Year.
The board of the NHF, which met recently, approved the programmes for this year, a copy of which was made available to P.M.Sports by the Secretary General of the federation, Olusola Luke.
According to the programme, Nigeria will begin quest to feature in this year’s All Africa Games taking place in Maputo, Mozambique in September with qualifying tournaments in Kaduna and Minna for the senior players in both male and female categories.
The qualifiers, which will be organised by the Confederation of Africa Handball, CAHB, will take place from 19-26 February and it will be attended by all teams within Africa Zone 3 Federation.
The national leagues for both male and female categories in the Premier Leagues clubs will kick off this month.
Nigerian senior boys and girls will join other member countries of the CAHB to take part in the 27th Africa Cup Winners Championship slated for March/April in Egypt, while a National U-18 Championship will also hold in March in Isanlu, Kogi State.
In April, Nigerian umpire will have the opportunity to attend a Referees Lectures Course in Kenya. This course will be organised by CAHB in conjunction with International Handball Federation, IHF, while the country will feature in the 17th Women Junior Africa Nations Championship in Cote D’Ivoire from 7-18 April. A national U-21 Junior Championship is fixed for the same month in Sokoto. Nigeria will also take part in the 10th Challenge Trophy (Male/Female) in Benin Republic.
NHF will attend the IHF/CAHB congress which will take place in Morocco from 2-7 May. An international youth competition, tagged Partillee Cup, will hold in June, while a National Open Championship, which will feature all states of the federation and clubs, is also scheduled for June.
Nigeria will play host to 33rd Africa Club Championship in Kaduna on a yet to be fixed date in September/October. A National U-12 and U-15 Championship is scheduled for Isanlu, Kogi State in November. The federation will use the period of the tourney to hold its Annual General Meeting, AGM.
And the country will host an Invitational Commonwealth Championship in Abuja in December.
—Taiwo Adelu
