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By Ebube Dike

After two international friendly matches between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and their rival, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in which the former lost one and Drew the other without scoring a goal on Friday last week and Tuesday this week, Nigeria will again square up against Cameroon in the ongoing Africa Women Handball Championship Thursday.

The 10-day tournament will last from 8 to 18 June, 2021 and Nigeria coach has expressed hope that the young ladies will come out strong against their Cameroon foes

Nigeria’s Women Senior Handball Team Coach, Rafiu Salami has declared that the ladies will do better in their second match against the Cameroonians at the Africa Women Handball Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon.

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 learnt 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 bes team 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 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 6pm.

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.