By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu
Lagos – Ahead of the Lagos State Secondary Schools Handball Championships, the state Handball Association (LSHA) says adequate measures are in place to ensure compliance to directives.
Chukwuemeka Duru, LSHA Technical Director, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that the tournament tagged `Opeifa Cup’ would hold from May 12 to May 17 at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Complex, Yaba.
Duru said that coaches had been assigned to schools to monitor training of players to ensure conformity to competition requirements.
“We are in the build-up stage, and we have rolled out the competition rules, which have been made available to participating schools,’’ he said.
“Our coaches visit schools to monitor their training and make significant technical input, but most importantly to make sure that the players are real students and not mercenaries.
“The idea is to encourage them and to reasonably avoid a situation whereby any school will be disqualified as a result of fielding players who are not students.
“The exercise is to checkmate schools, remind them of the implication of doing anything that might attract a penalty during the competition,’’ Duru said.
According to the technical director, the competition’s objective of identifying `raw’ talents must be realised.
He told NAN that the body would not entertain anything that would jeopardise the purpose of the competition.
He said that the technical committee would approve only teams whose players had been screened and confirmed for participation.
Duru advised players, schools and their supporters to be disciplined and orderly to make the competition hitch-free.
Adeola Opeifa, the LSHA Chairman, had earlier warned that teams must be made up of duly registered students, who must produce bio-data for verification before the competition.
“The team list will be verified accordingly and players screened before their participation,’’ she said.
Opeifa gave the assurance that security guards would be in the complex to main law and order.