Nigeria’s U-18 male handball national team are only one win away from becoming champions of the ongoing 2023 IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championship in San Jose, Costa Rica after dismantling Tahiti 61-21 in their fourth match of the competition on Friday night.
The Nigerian boys began their campaign at the championship with a resounding 46-30 victory over Central America country of Nicaragua on Wednesday before pulling off a late comeback on Thursday to secure a vital 32-32 draw against Guadeloupe, an island group in the southern Caribbean Sea.
In order to catch up with Georgia, who are sitting top of the standing in the six-day tournament, Nigeria needed to get a win against Tahiti and coach Emeka Nnamani and his boys comfortably delivered the much needed victory with an outstanding scoreline at the prestigious BN Arena in San Jose.
Nigeria completely dominated Tahiti in the first half with a near perfect display, an evidence of that is the 27-5 for the West Africa nation in the half before returning to complete the job with a 34-16 win in the second half, with eventual Player of the Match winner, goalkeeper Fahd Gbolahan providing several assists for the players to score many of their fast break goals.
At full time, Nigeria had 81 total shots with 76% all shots efficiency, with most goals in the match coming from fast breaks as they moved top of the tournament’s standing with five points same as Guadeloupe, who defeated Georgia 33-29 in their own match, but the Nigerians have scored more goals.
A victory in their last match of the tournament against Georgia by 12:00 a.m. (WAT) on Saturday will see Nigeria crowned the champions of the IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championship.
Source : People Gazette