Nigeria’s U-18 women handball team lost their second match of the 19th Africa Women’s Youth Handball Championship to Guinea in Monastir, Tunisia on Sunday.
The game ended 23-20 in favour of the Guineans who got their championship hopes back on track.
The IHF Women champions began the youth champions with a 28-18 victory over Algeria on Saturday but failed to build on that.
Nigeria met a vengeful Guinea side that they defeated twice to win the IHF Women Trophy Africa Continental Phase in Abidjan, Ivory in August.
Out on a mission, the Guineans, who drew their first match of this championship 18-18 against host Tunisia, threw everything into the game to ensure they avenged the painful loss in Ivory Coast.
It also didn’t help that the coach Shittu Agboola-led tutored team had a lot of turnovers and didn’t take their chances but the Guineans were the better defenders as Nigeria lost the first half 13-8.
Nigeria’s U-18 women handball team came back in the second half very purposeful and correcting the mistakes of the first half but continued to play catch up to the Guineans who held on to win the match 23-20.
Nigeria will next play Tunisia on Tuesday and must avoid a defeat against the hosts to keep thir dreams of winning the championship alive. A win will see them qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.