Opeifa Cup: Lagos Handball Association warns against violation of rules

The Lagos State Handball Association (LSHA) has warmed players for the forthcoming Secondary Schools Handball Championships, tagged “Opeifa Cup’’ to conform with rules to avoid their team’s disqualification.

It was reported that the Kayode Opeifa-sponsored competition which is in its third edition will hold at Mobolaji Sports Complex, Rowe Park, Yaba, from May 12 to May 19.

The sponsor is a board member of the LSHA and the competition which started in 2015 is to improve grassroots handball in Lagos State by identifying raw talents.

The LSHA Chairman, Adeola Opeifa, told our reporter on Wednesday in Lagos that schools were expected to feature players who were currently in the school’s teams as registered students.

Opeifa said the competition was to create a friendly environment for students in secondary schools to compete without intimidation by players that were no more in the system.

“Being a grassroots competition, we have a responsibility to ensure thorough discipline, making sure that only bona fide students of participating schools were in the teams.

“This is one of the ways that students feel free to exhibit their skills, giving us the opportunity to catch them young which is the objective of the competition.

“The championships are restricted to secondary schools in Lagos State and there are no rooms for mercenary that has to do with inviting a former student to join a school’s team.

“We expect participating school authorities to be well organised and conform to these rules as they present their representatives; anything contrary will attract disqualification,’’ she said.

She said that the technical arm of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) would be on ground at the day one of the competition to verify information on registered schools before approval for participation.

Opeifa added that adequate arrangement was in place to improve the standard of the sport and make the edition a memorable for participants.

It was reported that 50 schools from various education districts in the state featured teams in the male and female categories at the 2016 edition.