Nigeria begin Africa Men handball tourney with loss to Tunisia
Nigeria lost to Tunisia 30-18 in the opening match of the 2022 African Men’s Senior Handball Championship, which got underway on Saturday in Egypt. African Men’s Handball Championship, now in its 25th year, will end on July 19, 2022, per the schedule. N10bn probe: Ijaw youths, ex-militants leaders warn senate over threat to Dikio Experts […]
Nigeria lost to Tunisia 30-18 in the opening match of the 2022 African Men’s Senior Handball Championship, which got underway on Saturday in Egypt.
African Men’s Handball Championship, now in its 25th year, will end on July 19, 2022, per the schedule.
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To the delight of the crowd, the opening half of the match between the Golden Arrows and the reigning champions of Africa featured scintillating handball that ended 14-13.
But after losing the first-half magic, Nigeria produced a number of errors and turnovers in the second half, which allowed Tunisia to punish them with a decisive 30-18 victory.
Coach Rafiu Salami said his team didn’t take their chances and allowed incessant turnovers, which made the Tunisians to be ahead in a large period of the match.
“We had a game plan and the guys adhered to it and that was why we played well in the first half”. Coach Rafiu Salami said.
“But in the second half, we were too eager to score, which caused the turnovers and then we were too scared to play because we were playing not to concede goals instead of to play to win”
The France based coach said the team will do better against Cape Verde as this was the first top side they will play aside from the Abuja based clubs.
Nigeria will play Cape Verde today and a victory may be good enough for the Golden Arrows to get into the quarter finals.