The Nigeria U-18 male Handball team on Wednesday began their IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championship campaign with a 46-30 win over Nicaragua in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Cosmos Chukwuemeka, the Media Assistant, of Handball Federation of Nigeria, stated this in a statement in Lagos on Thursday.
He said the team started the match with a lot of zeal which ensured they had over 81 percent near-shot efficiency from players like Tahir Ahmed Lawal and Olawale Ajibike.
Nigeria
They comfortably won the first half 19-9.
The second half wasn’t a stroll in the park as such for Nigeria as the Nicaraguans came out to turn the match around.
Perez Sincler forced the Nigerian team into turnovers to get 50 percent 7 meters shot efficiency amongst other improvements.
However, the masterstroke tactics of Nigeria’s coach, Emeka Nnamani, kept them at bay to rally back and; take control as Nigeria won the second half 27-21.
Overall, Nigeria had; 62 shots overall with a 74 percent all-shots efficiency; as against Nicaragua’s 56 percent with the team essentially winning the match through the 6 metres.
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They also; capitalized on near shots, wing shots, and more fast breaks to earn their first win in the competition.
Nigeria will play Guadaloupe in their next match on Thursday (today); at 1 pm local time (8 pm Nigeria time).
(NAN)
