The coach of Nigeria’s under-20 handball national team, Fidelis Obi has ruled out the possibility of the squad playing any friendly with West African countries ahead of their world championship outing.
Obi told sports247.ng that it would be counter-productive for his side to take on teams in the West Coast, because he believes Nigeria are better than any of them.
He reckoned that it would be better to try out their mettle against tougher and better opposition, as they aim to pull off big upsets at next year’s World Men’s U-20 Handball Championship.
Although he acknowledged that it will be Nigeria’s maiden outing at the competition on the global level, Obi insists his side will be well prepared and properly psyched up to cause many ripples.
Obi stressed: “We will not play friendlies against West African oppositions because we are better than them. The team will rather play teams that are stronger than us; in order to give them a better test.
“It is our hope that we will perform well at the World Cup next year despite it being our first time to join in this level of international participation.”
