The national U-18 male 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, 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 per cent near shot efficiency from players like Tahir Ahmed Lawal and Olawale Ajibike.
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 per cent 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 per cent all shots efficiency as against Nicaragua’s 56 per cent with the team essentially winning the match through the 6 metres.
They also capitalised on near shots, wing shots and more of fast breaks to earn their first win in the competition.
Nigeria will play Guadaloupe in their next match on Thursday (today) at 1pm local time (8 pm Nigeria time).
