Unlike their counterparts in football that hardly get global recognition, three Nigerian referees have been listed to officiate in the forthcoming 2nd Edition of Commonwealth ECOWAS handball championship scheduled to take place in Abuja, Nigeria from April 4 to 8.
According to report from the secretariat of the Commonwealth Handball Association, two pairs of CAHB badged referees, Bosede Momoh/Ngozi Eze and Tobi Peter/Solomon Anthony, and one pair of IHF badged referee, Sikiru Ahmed/Ahmadu James, will represent Nigeria in the championship.
Reacting to the news, the President of Handball Federation of Nigeria, Alhaji Yusuf Dauda, expressed happiness at the development, adding that it is a true vindication of the hardwork and developmental projects the federation had embarked on since they came on board.
He recalled that Nigeria last had it so good about 20 years ago when the likes of Major Yakubu Uduamokhai led the league of Nigeria referees that officiated in the IHF World Championship.
He said: “I believe that we have been trying our best to help revitalise the game of handball in Nigeria. After the two CAHB badged referees must have participated in this championship, we will start the process of helping them to upgrade to IHF.
“Right now, we are going to embark on a two weeks training camp to get our players fit for the championship. As you know, Nigeria won the last edition of this championship and I strongly believe that with the effort we are making we are going to do Nigeria proud once again.”
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Handball Association has started naming official partners of the championship.
According to information released by the Executive Director of the Association, Mallam Attahiru Garba, the Vine Hotel Abuja has been designated as the official Hotel while D&B Limited is the official technical partner.
Other official partners will be named before the championship starts.