The Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN) has appealed to the Kwara Government to renovate the Indoor Sports Hall of the Kwara Sports Stadium to attract more national and international championships.

Alhaji Dauda Yusuf, President of the federation made the appeal in Ilorin on Saturday while speaking with sports journalists.

According to him, the HFN is ready to bring an international championship to the state if the facility is renovated before the tournament.

''We will pay a courtesy call on Gov Abdulfatah Ahmed to thank him for the donation he made to the federation and stress the need for the government to renovate the Indoor Sports Hall.

"We know that Kwara was associated with handball in the past, but just as it happened at the federation level, the enthusiasm died down.

"We are ready now to resuscitate the game and also ready to help Kwara in developing handball at the grass roots.

"Handball is being given a new lease of life now. We are re-branding the game and our focus is that in a few years to come, people would be fighting for sponsorship of handball championships in the country,'' Yusuf said.

The HFN president said that he was in Ilorin to appreciate the efforts of the sponsor of the 3rd Omoluabi Kwara U-15 Handball Championship, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi.

According to him, he was not surprised with the effort of Abdullahi who is also the Minister of Sports.

''This is the same way he turned the face of education when he served as Kwara Commissioner of Education,'' Yusuf said.

He announced that champions of the under-15 tournament would be honoured by the federation with a ticket to represent the country at the Patile tournament in Sweden 2013.

The HFN president added that the federation would also distribute handball equipment to states to boost their morale.

(NAN)