The 5th Edition of Sam Ocheho Invitational Handball Championship will not hold this year due to the novel COVID-19 pandemic.
The biennial Handball championship was adopted as one of the programmes of the federation by the Congress last year held in Lagos. The next edition will hold in 2022 as a result of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the scribe of Handball Federation of Nigeria, Haruna Maigidansama, teams from Niger and Togo had registered for the championship asides regulars from the western coast of African such as Benin, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
He said the decision to cancel the championship was hinged on the safety of the handball players as the pandemic rages.
Maigidansama said, “As part of our activities for 2020, June was scheduled for the 5th Sam Ocheho Invitational Handball Championship. This championship has previously attracted handball teams from the western coast of African such as Benin, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. This year we had scheduled to invite teams from Niger Rep and Togo.
“However with the pandemic currently ravaging the world, we are constrained to cancel the championship and then hold it in June 2022 which is meant to be when the next edition will hold”.
“This is a competition that handball players in Nigeria and other Western African countries usually look forward to and so we apologise for our inability to host it this year as the pandemic took the shine of the championship.
“As a responsible federation we have no choice but to abide by the laws of the land and also to protect our Handball players from COVID-19”, it read.
The Handball Federation of Nigeria was one of the sports federations that postponed all activities earlier in the year after a directive from the Federal Ministry of Sports And Youth Development due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
