LAGOS – The Lagos State Handball Association (LSHA), said that as defending champions, the Lagos male handball team would ensure they successfully defend their title at the forthcoming 19th National Sports Festival (NSF).
The Assistant Captain of the team, Yusuf Abdulraman, said on Thursday in Lagos that the team had been working hard since the beginning of the year to ensure that they successfully defended the title they won at the 18th edition of the festival in Lagos in 2012.
The festival is scheduled to hold from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3 in Calabar, Cross River.
“We have been preparing very well. We train almost every time and we have been working very hard in every position so that we can play very well in the competition.
“We have played two competitions this year, a game in Abuja which was Mega Veteran Handball Championship; we came third in that competition.
“Another one we played was the Second Sam Ocheho Handball Championship; we won the competition.
“There is one thing about handball you have to know; the more you play competitions, the more you will improve, so far you are ready to improve.
“We have everything it will take to retain the title because Lagos State Handball Association parade young players.
“The young players are very strong, they are very fast and they are ready to listen to the coach; so, that will really help us in the competition,“ he said. [eap_ Meanwhile, Shittu Agboola, a coach with the LSHA, said that the team’s victories at competitions organised earlier in the year were proof of their capacity to emerge as the champions for a second consecutive run.
“Talents that we’ve been able to discover are really evident in the tournaments and the games that we’ve played and won.
“The Lagos State Handball team are the current champions in the male category from the last festival; they are second in the female category.
“Even in the Second Sam Ocheho Championship, we also had the same result winning gold medal and silver medal at the tournament.
“We are hoping to consolidate on our past glory at the festival; so we are using grassroots programme to discover new talents that are going to participate in the 2014 Calabar festival.“
Agboola said that the team would not be discouraged by the fact that the festival had already been declared open. (NAN)
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