Handball Championships Loss: Lagos U-18 Coach absolves players of blame

Team Lagos, defending Champions of the U-18 female category of the National U-18 and U-21 Male and Female Handball Championships has absolved her players of any blame in the championship which it failed to win.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Team Mind Scope Academy dethroned Team Lagos with a 26-25 scoreline  in the final match of the U-18 female category in the just concluded 2019 edition.
The championships were organised by the Handball Federation of Nigeria from March 16 to March 24 at Rowe Park Sports Centre, Yaba and was competed for by 18 teams from seven states.
Bukola Duru, head coach of the Lagos U-18 female team, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday in Lagos that the match with Team Mind Scope was a tough one.
Duru said that her players played according to instruction and were taking the lead until the second half when the game changed and Mind Scope overshadowed his defence.
She said: “It was a good outing for my team though being the defending champions, we actually targeted to retain the trophy and my girls played well but narrowly lost with just one goal.
Our match was one of the toughest in this tournament, however, there must be a winner and a loser, in spite of the fact that both team aimed to win the trophy.”
She said that efforts would be made in its training to keep the players on their toes and get them adequately ready for subsequent editions of the annual championships.
The coach boasted that her team was a force to reckon with and that it was training consistently in and out of competitions to keep her going and formidable.
She said: “It was a good experience for us but we are going back to work thoroughly on our technical areas, as to make sure that players takes charge of their wings.
“The championships is an annual tournament, which will avail us the opportunity to reclaim our position in the U-18 female category, so there is hope.”
NAN reports that the female category had Mind Scope Academy of Ota, in the first position, Lagos placed 2nd, while the male had Team Kogi in 1st position and team Lagos 2nd, both in the U-18 category of the championships.
The Best Goalkeeper of the championships for the female category was Babatunde Kehinde of Team Lagos, while Segun Adeleke of Team Lagos also emerged winner in the male, both of the U-18 category.