The ongoing deadly respiratory ailment ravaging the world, novel coronavirus or COVID-19, has claimed yet another victim in the Nigerian sports scene, as the 5th Sam Ocheho Invitational Handball Championship will no longer this year because of the pandemic.
This much has been disclosed by the secretary-general of Handball Federation of Nigeria, Haruna Maigidansama, who disclosed that teams from Niger Republic, Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire had already registered for the championship, but they will no longer turn up.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Maigidansama added that all expected participants have been notified about the cancellation of the biennial championship that was adopted as one of the programmes of the Nigerian handball governing body by the Congress last year in Lagos.
However, the scribe pointed out that they will all now have to turn attention on the next edition billed to hold in 2022, as a result of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, even as he affirmed that the decision to cancel this year’s championship was hinged on the safety of all the players, coaches, officials, fans and journalists, as the deadly respiratory ailment is yet to abate.
He acknowledged that the handball body is one of Nigeria’s sports federations that postponed all their activities in March, following a directive from the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development due to the globally festering effects of the COVID-19 scourge.
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.”
