By Ime Bassey
Secretary of the Handball Federation   of Nigeria, Olusola Luke, has disclosed that the team which has been camped in Kaduna State has left for Cotonou and Accra for friendly matches with their Ghanaian and Benin Republic counterparts respectively.

He made this known to Saturday Vanguard Sports in a chat stressing that all is well with the team as they are poised to return back from Maputo with the desired gold medal as he thanked the National Sports Commission for the unflinching support shown to the team.

“The team has lefty for Ghana and Benin Republic for friendly matches. Preparation was good for the  players as they all showed readiness for the Games. We did not lacked anything at all since we were in camp because everything was made available for us by the National Sports Commission and we are grateful for that.

“The goal of the federation and that of the NSC, is to win gold medal, which we are very sure we will be able to attain at the end of the Games putting into consideration our preparation,” Olusola said.

Weightlifting boss sad over exclusion of the sport from Maputo

Chairman of the technical committee of the Weightlifting Federation of Nigeria, Captain Babatunde Adedimeji (rtd), has expressed his disappointment on the exclusion of the sport from the forthcoming All Africa Games billed for Maputo, Mozambique.

While speaking on phone to Saturday Vanguard Sports from his Lagos home, he said the Federation has switched its sight to the World/Africa senior Championship in France and Uganda respectively.

“It is quite devastating and amazing that a sport like weightlifting will not be competed for at the All Africa Games for the first time in the history of the Games causing annoyance even at the African Body which I happen to be the Vice President. It is a terrible thing that it will not be seen in Mapotu even for us as a country.

All I know is that, if there is no weightlifting, wrestling and other key sports at the Games, it will really affect Nigeria’s chances. I do not know how prepared other teams like Table Tennis, Boxing, Athletic, etc are but I hope they are preparing hard for the Games.,” he said.

Commenting on the federations’ preparedness for the Africa/World senior championship in France and Uganda respectively, the retired Naval Captain said, “17 lifters have been in camp in Owerri for about three weeks now, working with four coaches from Nasarawa, Abuja and Abia. This preparation is directed at making sure we have a good outing at the two events,” he added.