Habib Ahmed, the coach of Kada Queens Handball team of Kaduna, has called on the state government to rescue its teams from financial embarrassment as they vied for honours at the ongoing 2021 Prudent Energy Handball Premier league in Abuja.
The coach told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that the team needed funds to clear all their bills, accumulated since the commencement of the league.
He said the situation of the team was not improving any further, to the extent that the players were playing their games on empty stomachs.
“The technical people have told us that any moment from now, but we will not continue with the league.
“We won today’s match, but we are still expecting the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development in Kaduna, especially the secretary, Yusuf Kaya, to come to our aid to help make things happen by paying the bills,” he said.
“We are in great danger because the bills for accommodation had not been paid, the management of the stadium came to ask for the money, but we could not pay because we don’t have money to settle our bills.
” We and the players are not finding things easy any longer in the league in terms of our bills.
” We have accumulated bills and we need the help of the state government to rescue the players,” he said.
He said he has been encouraging the players that they should patient but from the beginning of the league since last week Thursday we did not hear anything from anybody.
” They wanted to kick us out today that we should not play the league again, after the technical meeting but I still pleaded with them to please give us more space,” he said.
He added that the players had not been feeding well since the beginning of the competition.
“They (female and male teams) are always complaining of hunger and most of the games we lost was due to hunger, ” he said.
NAN reports that in spite of the hunger, Kada Queens defeated Bayelsa Queens 29-23 after an 18-8 margin in the first half, while the male team also defeated Plateau Vipers 29-28.
In another match played on Day six in the female category, Imo Grasshoppers triumphed over Confluence Queens of Lokoja 28-20; Safety Babes defeated defending Champions, Adorable Angels of Kwara state 33-27, while Seasider Babes of Lagos beat Plateau Peacocks 21-16.
In the male competition, Lagos Seasiders beat Tojemarine Academy 34-27; Rima Strikers beat Police Machine 29-26, D: Defenders beat Confluence Stars 28–26, while Kano Pillars beat defending champions, Safety Shooters 23-19 in the last match of the day.
A total of 21 teams, comprising 10 female and 11 male teams, are participating in the premier league, which ends Thursday, Nov. 3. (NAN)
