The president of Handball Federation of Nigeria, Samuel Ocheho said the future of the female handball lies in the hands of the current junior and cadet teams.
Ocheho disclosed this at the training session ahead of the International Handball Federation (IHF) Challenge Trophy slated for Niamey, Niger Republic.
Ocheho told www.aclsports.com that the male under 18 and 20 handball teams have set a high standard by qualifying for their respective World Championships last year.
He said, “Unfortunately, the standard has been set so high; they have seen their male counterpart qualify for the World Championships and I believe just like I told them that they are the ones that will redefined the face of female handball in Nigeria.
“So, the expectation from these championships is that they go there and qualify and by qualification this means they must come first”.
The Ex international said the players were chosen from the National Youth Games and the under 15 championships held in 2018.
He said, “We selected the players through the National Youth Games process and some of them are from the under 15 of last year. The selection was easy because of the age grade tournaments last year and that is why you can see most of them are looking young and we hope they do Nigeria proud”
Ocheho said, “My message to the girls is that they should go to Niger and have fun, returning with the trophy. So, it is difficult to have fun and come back with the trophy but that is what they have to do. They have to start setting the pace for female handball in Nigeria”.