Nigeria’s Women Senior Handball Team Coach, Rafiu Salami has declared that his team will do better in their second match against Cameroon at the Africa Women Handball Championship.
Nigeria lost their first match of the Nation’s Cup with a heavy 35-16 loss to DR Congo; a defeat which coach Salami attributed to the inexperience of the ladies as they are in the championship for the first time in 27 years.
But the Issy Handball Club of France believes his team have learned a big lesson and the next match against Cameroon will be different.
“I want to say what happened in the match was unfortunate and we are sorry about the outcome of the match” Coach Salami said
“We lost the match because we were not experienced against a team that is one of the best teams in Africa as we are playing in the championship for the first time in 26 years.
That said, the next match against Cameroon will be different.
The ladies are motivated and we know we cannot disgrace our country even though we are playing against the host.
So expect a different match on Thursday” He concluded.
Also, the captain of the National Women Senior Handball Team Dorathy Nyagh believes there is a change of mindset in the team ahead of the encounter against Cameroon on Thursday.
The Benue Queens left-back disclosed that no one can explain what happened to the team against Cameroon but they have put that aside and are prepared to repair their reputation against Cameroon on Thursday.
“I cannot really say what went wrong but I think we needed to have come out with the right attitude towards the game even though it was our first time to feature in this kind of a tournament.” She said
“However, ahead of the second match against Cameroon, our mindset and approach towards the game has changed and it would be different than the first match”. She concluded.
Nigeria will play host Cameroon on Thursday at 6 pm.
Cameroon top the group after defeating Kenya 40-16 ahead of DR Congo in second while Nigeria are third on the log with Kenya at the bottom of the group.
