IHF Youth C’Ships: Do not rule Nigeria out says Nnamani

The head coach of Nigeria U18 men’s Handball team, Emeka Nnamani said Nigeria cannot be ruled out of lifting the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in North Macedonia.

The 2019 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship is the eighth edition of the tournament, holding from 6th to 18th August, 2019 in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Nnamani told www.aclsports.com that the IHF Challenge Trophy in Kosovo helped in shaping his players ahead of the World Championships.

The COAS Shooters coach said, “Nigeria can never be ruled out of the World Championship. We are going to North Macedonia to fight for the trophy.

“Few months ago, we were in Kosovo and finished second after narrowly losing to Chinese Taipei 27-26 in the U19 final of the IHF Challenge Trophy. The game plan was to win the final but the game went the other way round. The experience we had in Kosovo will definitely go a long way in my coaching career; especially on modern approach to the game”.

Nnamani revealed that winning every game is the team’s number one priority.

“My boys know what is at stake and if you see the way we have been training, you would agree that we have improved a lot. To win every game at the world championship is very important because it will improve our confidence, especially after finishing second at the IHF Challenge trophy”.

Nigeria face Bahrain in their first match on 6^th August, 2019 at the Boris Trajkovski Sports Center, Skopje.

Nigeria has been drawn in Group C alongside Denmark, Bahrain, Japan, Argentina and North Macedonia.

The list of players selected for the U18 World Championships are;

Farouk Yusuf (Mountada Derb Sultan HC), Ibrahim Dikko (Lagos Seasiders), Hakeem Salami (Lagos Seasiders), Ekpodio Ebinatei (Lagos Seasiders), Adeshola Adelakun (Lagos Seasiders), Sanni Bature (Lagos Seasiders), Salim Ahmed (Niger united), Ismiala Yahaya (Niger United), Abbas Mohammed (Niger united), Abdulrahaman Abdullazeez (COAS Shooter), Anas Yashau (COAS Shooter), Kelvin Dele (COAS Shooter), Joseph Gbawuan (COAS Shooters), Ismaila Biliahminu (COAS Shooters), Obinna okwor CConflunce Shooters), Bello Mohammed (Sokoto Rima) and Saheed Shittu (Kwara Academy).

The team will be handled by COAS Shooters’, Emeka Nnamani and Nasarawa U18 coach, Musa Oji.