Nigeria tackles Angola in opener

By Adeyinka AdedipeNigeria will take on Angola in a tough opening match today at the 24th Mens Senior Africa Nations Cup, in Rades,Tunisia.The match is the third game of the day and the first in Group B which also has Gabon and Libya. The Angolans are favourite to win this game after finishing third at the last edition in Gabon, while the Nigerian team finished last.However, a resurgent Nigeria team that went on a training tour in Tunisia, winning two and losing two warm up games, is expected to give the Angolans a good fight. The best Nigeria has achieved is a fourth place finish at the 1998 edition in South Africa.Coach of the team Rafiu Salami told NationSport that the players were getting in shape and will go far in the championship even as he insisted that his wards have become tactically and technically strong during the training tour ahead of the tournament.Read Also:Handball Nations Cup: Nigeria fine-tunes preparations in TunisI am happy with what we have been able to achieve before the championship started, he said. We have done well in the friendly games and team is mentally and physically strong to take on any opposition.Technical director of Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Ferdinand Emeana said the team was in good shape to do well at the championship while commending president of the Federation, Sam Ocheo for ensuring that the team embarked on a training tour.Since the inception of the championship in 1974, only three teams Tunisia (10 times), Algeria (7 times) and Egypt (6 times) have won the title. The competition will end on the 26th.
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