The ImoStateUnder – 18 male and female Handball championship came to its crescendo on Friday the 20th of July 2012 at the Grasshoppers International stadium Owerri as Oru – East and Okigwe Local Government Areas emerged as the male and female championship respectively.
In the final game of the male category, Oru East defeated their Okigwe counterparts by 12 – 6 to cart away the coveted trophy.
While in the female category, Okigwe LGA over came the Ehime Mbano LGA teams to emerge champions with a narrow 6 – 5 victory.
Speaking to Imo Trumpeta after the games the State Handball Association Secretary Mrs Akpullo expressed her happiness on the level of competition that was exhibited among the participating teams.
She further stated that with the games that took place during the four day event, the state coaches have been able to pick talented players that have already been invited to the state male female teams for further training. 15 male players were picked while 20 female were also selected to join the Imo Lions and the Grasshoppers as well as the state sports festival Handball teams.
On individual performances, Emmanuel Igwe from Okigwe emerged the highest goal scorer in the male category while Uchechi C also from Okigwe took that of the females.
Martins Anyanwuocha from Ihitte Uboma was adjudged the most valuable player (MVP) in the male category while Uzoma Onuigbo from Ehime Mbano collected the (MVP) award for the female category.
In a closing remark, the special guest of honour at the final, Mr Dauda Yusuf who is the Handball National president commended the Organizers for putting up this type of championship that is geared towards exposing the raw talents and identifying future handball stars.
He however stated that with this type of games, will go a long way to show why Imo State has been a dominant force in the game of handball with Grasshoppers and the Imo Lions.
