Sports

3rd Edition Cricket National under 17 Tournament kicks off weekend

Published

5 years ago

January 25, 2022

Joel Ajayi
The National Under-17 Cricket Championship for Boys and Girls one of the biggest grassroots tournaments in the country under the sustained sponsorship of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will kick off come this weekend in across the country.

The championship which has grown over the course of the last 2 editions will experience a record-breaking of 31 states featuring in the Boys category and 25 states in the Girls category respectively in this 3rd edition.

In a press statement signed by the Public Relations Officers, Musa Ehizoje Bodie on Tuesday in Abuja has it all set for the 3rd Edition.

According to the statement, Ahead of the finals, there will be a qualification series among states across the 6 zones in the country from the 28th – 30th January 2022, and a regional team will be selected for the National Final scheduled to take place from the 15th -20th February 2022, in Abuja.

The regional team selection is to allow all-inclusive participation that reflects the goal of spreading the game to every nook and crannies of the country.

While speaking with the main Partner PwC representative, Mr. Tolu Adeleke gave an insight to the partnership with the NCF thus far :

“The National Under-17 Cricket Championship sponsored by PwC Nigeria is an avenue for PwC to solve societal problems especially in the areas of youth and teenage development.
” Thus, we are extremely proud of our collaboration with the Nigeria Cricket Federation. In line with our global strategy, The New Equation, we are delivering sustained outcomes with our involvement with the National U-17 Cricket Championship program now in its 3rd year and other developmental programs of the NCF- ultimately achieving our overall Societal Purpose of Reimagining Africa Together.

“We hope for more of these avenues to drive positive change and look forward to a very successful championship tournament this year.” He said.

For this year’s zonal qualification, FCT will host the North Central zone, Kaduna State will host the northwest zone, Gombe State will host the North East Zone, Ebonyi State will host the South East Zone, Edo State will host the South-South zone and Finally, Oyo State will host the South West Zone.

Meanwhile, the 2nd edition was a major success witnessed South-South as the runaway champions in both the Boys and Girls categories record-breaking performance from 14 years old Piety Lucky, who became the first female cricketer to score a century in the History of Nigeria and northwest Africa, which also earned her the record of being the youngest female to ever make the Nigeria Senior Women’s team.

South-South will look to retain their championship Status but not without a fight from other zones that have improved tremendously over the last 1 year. North West will always be a firm contender, not forgetting the South West and the South East.

While, the North East continues to grow despite the security challenges as 3 out of 6 states will feature in this year’s event. The biggest news perhaps will be Gombe and Taraba states that will be producing both Boys and Girls for the play-offs.

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Sports

Plateau Vipers, Benue Queens Crowned Champions at HFN North Central Division One Tourney

Published

15 hours ago

October 3, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The President of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Jibril Seidu, has said the federation will continue to intensify its grassroots talent development drive through zonal competitions across the country.

Seidu stated this on Saturday in Abuja at the finals of the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship, where Plateau Vipers defeated Suleja Shooters 29-24 to emerge champions in the men’s category.

In the women’s final, Benue Queens of Makurdi defeated City Queens of Suleja to claim the title.

The eight-day tournament featured teams from across the North Central Zone, with Plateau Vipers of Jos, Confluence Stars of Lokoja, Unity Boys of Abuja, Suleja Shooters and Nasarawa Ambassadors of Lafia competing in the men’s category.

In the women’s category, Nuela Handball Academy of Ilorin, Inikpi Babes of Idah, Benue Queens of Makurdi and City Queens of Suleja competed for honours.

At the end of the competition, four teams — two male and two female — emerged as the North Central Zone’s representatives for the national Division One league.

According to Seidu, the tournament was organised as part of the federation’s deliberate strategy to take handball development back to the regions and discover talents that might otherwise remain unnoticed.

He said the HFN board, inaugurated on October 25, 2025, resolved that grassroots development was essential to creating a sustainable pipeline of players for national and international competitions.

“All the teams you have seen here are from the North Central Zone of the country, and every state is represented with an academy or state team,” he said.

Seidu explained that the new approach marked a departure from the previous system, where talent identification was largely centred on the federation’s major league competitions.

He said taking competitions to the regions would provide young players with greater opportunities to showcase their abilities while strengthening the foundation of handball across the country.

The HFN president also linked the grassroots initiative to Nigeria’s recent achievements in international handball, stressing the need to develop younger players who can eventually replace members of the current national teams.

He noted that Nigeria had qualified for the 2027 Men’s Junior Handball World Championship in North Macedonia, describing the achievement as evidence of the potential within the country’s handball system.

“How do we replace these players with upcoming players? This is the avenue for us to get players,” he said.

Seidu added that the federation was determined to make handball more visible and accessible, describing it as one of Nigeria’s major sporting disciplines with significant potential for growth.

The North Central tournament is part of a wider zonal programme designed to decentralise handball development across Nigeria.

According to the federation, similar competitions are being organised across other zones, including the South East, North East, North West and South South, with qualifiers from each zone expected to converge at a designated venue for the next stage of the competition.

The federation also appealed for greater support from sponsors, stakeholders and state associations to sustain its grassroots development programme.

It expressed appreciation to the participating states, academies, team sponsors and other stakeholders for their support and commitment to the growth of handball in Nigeria.

The federation said the initiative would provide a platform for discovering the next generation of Nigerian handball stars while expanding the sport’s reach beyond its traditional centres.
While Speaking the elated coach of Benue Queen Godwin Tondo has promised a stronger and more tactical performance after guiding the team to victory at the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship in Abuja.
He attributed the success to the team’s long-term youth development programme, noting that the squad was built through a deliberate process of identifying and nurturing young talents.
According to him, the programme began with the selection of 92 girls from secondary schools, who were subsequently trained and developed over a four-year period.

He said the team’s success was a product of sustained hard work and commitment despite the challenges encountered during preparations for the tournament.

“I feel very pleased being a champion today. The road to this stage was very, very hard, but I am very happy that we have got the result from all the toughness of the game,” he said.

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