Sports
Kontagora Invitational Tourney: 37 Teams Indicate Interest
By Joel Ajayi
No fewer than 37 teams are expected to take part in this year’s edition of the Kontagora Invitational Volleyball Challenge slated for the First Quarter of 2022.
According to the sponsor of the Kontagora Invitational Challenge, Major General Taritimiye Gagariga, he revealed that 21 teams will battle for honours in the male category, while 16 teams will vie for the top prize in the female category.
Maj Gen Gagariga who doubles as the Chairman, Nigeria Park Volleyball stated that the objective of the competition was to complement the vision of the current President NVBF, Engineer Musa Nimrod, to promote unity, empower youths, strengthen grassroots diversity, encourage mentorship and inculcate the spirit of sponsorship in the game of volleyball across the country.
“As part of efforts to activate park volleyball in the country, 6 of the invited teams had indicated interest to participate in the Park Volleyball Exhibition Matches during this year’s Kontagora Invitational Challenge.
“Within the last 3 months, all NVBF Board Members have in one way or the other promoted the game of volleyball with donations and organized competitions across the 36 states. The Kontagora Challenge is just one of the many that would herald other well-graded programs of the NVBF for 2022.”
He implored participating teams, match officials, coaches, and referees to embrace discipline as well as sportsmanship spirit of perseverance.
In a related development, to ensuring capacity building of Nigerian Volleyball Coaches Association (NVCA), a 2-day Coaching Seminar for all the participating teams will be organised during the competition. The Chairman NVCA, Coach Elishama Elam has assured all participants that the seminar would be beneficial for coaches to develop the game at the grassroots level and that Coach Tony Oghuma had been contacted as the Resource Person for the seminar.
The teams that have indicated interest are Defence Spikers of Abuja, COAS Spikers of Zaria, Navy Sailors of Lagos, NAF Rockets of Kaduna, Super Stars of Kontagora, G-RANK Spikers of Kachia, Bayonet Spikers of Jaji and Rhino of Jos. Other teams are Scorpion Spikers of Abuja, Kaf Ambassadors of Kafanchan, Stinging Bees of Katari, Yelwa of Bauchi, Games Village Volleyball Club Abuja. Life Camp Volleyball Club Abuja, Victory Spikers Owerri, Offa Volleyball Club, Nasa Thunders of Nasarawa, Nile University Abuja, Niger Brass Minna, Kada Kings Kaduna, and Katsina United Volleyball Club
Sports
Plateau Vipers, Benue Queens Crowned Champions at HFN North Central Division One Tourney
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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