Nigeria Edge Côte D’ivoire, Close in on Handball World Championship Ticket and Suffer Setback in Fide Chess Olympiad

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

Nigeria’s Under-18 men’s handball team moved a step closer to qualifying for the 2027 IHF Men’s Under-19 Handball World Championship after defeating hosts Côte d’Ivoire 31-26 in the fifth-to-eighth placement match of the 22nd Africa Men’s Youth Handball Championship in Abidjan.

Nigeria will now face the winner of the other fifth-to-eighth placement match between Cameroon and Rwanda in a decisive encounter.

Victory in that match will see Nigeria finish fifth at the continental championship and earn one of Africa’s five qualification tickets to the 2027 IHF Men’s Under-19 Handball World Championship.

In chess, Team Nigeria recorded a difficult outing in round six of the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, with the men suffering a heavy defeat to Vietnam, while the women also fell to Austria.

The result ended Nigeria’s run of three victories and leaves the men with six match points from six rounds, having recorded three wins and three defeats.

With five rounds still to play, Nigeria will be looking to recover from the round six setbacks and finish the tournament strongly.