Mohammed Bashir, Executive Secretary, Borno State Sports Council, has expressed doubt as to the ability of Borno Spiders winning the championship of the ongoing Prudent Energy Handball league in Abuja.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday, that the insurgents had affected the training session of the team.
Bashir, however, said that rather going on relegation, the team should remain in division one, if they cannot win the championship, adding that it would be bad for the team to be relegated.
He said: “My target is to remain in first division, if we cannot win let us not be relegated.’’
He said that the team had been in camp in Kaduna state for two weeks in preparation for the league.
Bashir said: “The state is featuring only the male team (Borno Spiders) and we hope to perform better, considering the level of our preparation for the league in the camp.
“I don’t know how others are preparing, but I think we have done our best and ready for the league.
“Borno is a handball state; we use to have the best youth team in Nigeria. Countries like Denmark and Italy know the state in terms of handball competition.
“It is the insurgent that brought us setback, but we are trying to come up and I know we will succeed.’’
NAN reports that the Prudent Energy Handball League commences on Friday in Abuja with 22 teams, 12 male teams and 10 female teams participating.
Two weeks ago, the Handball Federation of Nigeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Prudent Energy as the new sponsor of the first phase of the Premier League.
The league has N4.5 million as prize-money while Prudent Energy signed a five-year contract with the federation.
The winners will get N1 million; the second placed — N750, 000 — while the third-place winner will get N500, 000.
The male teams confirmed for the Premier League are: Lagos Seasiders, COAS Shooters, Safety Shooters and De Defenders.
Others are: Prison Key Boys, Niger United, Owena Kings, Kada Stars, Borno Spiders, Vipers of Plateau, Kano Pyramid and Sokoto Rima.
The female Teams are: Lagos Seasiders, Defenders Babes, Safety Babes, Edo Dynamos, Owena Queens, Imo Grasshoppers, Abia Valiant, Desert Queens of Katsina,Kada Queen and Peacocks of Plateau.
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