Nigeria’s Under-23 team yesterday, defeated Azerbaijan, 29-17 with an excellent second-half performance on day 2 of the 5th IHF Emerging Nations Championship in Varna, Bulgaria.

The Coach Solomon Yola tutored team went into the match better prepared following their opening day 31-31 draw against the United States of America but somehow still found it hard to score goals despite taking a 4-1 lead and then having to hold their own to win the first half 9-8.

The second half started and it seemed Azerbaijan came smoking as they drew the first blood in the half but that only awakened Nigeria and they match up as Coach Solomon Yola’s team swiftly took advantage of Azerbaijan’s turnovers, Nigeria embarked on a 13:1 run, part of two runs which saw the African side enjoy a 6:0 and a 7:0 unanswered runs, between the 32nd and the 45 minutes, when they were unstoppable especially on fast breaks, taking advantage of their opponents’ woes.

In fact, with Faruk Yusuf, Solomon Yusuf and Kareem Ajibike firing from all cylinders, Nigeria tied the number of goals scored in the first half after only 10 minutes and 53 seconds in the second part.

In the end, Nigeria won the match 29-17 with John Shagari, the man of the match, scoring seven times, Kareem Ajibike adding six goals, and Faruk Yusuf also had six goals under his name at the end of the match.

Nigeria face the Republic of Moldova in the last match of the preliminary round, while Azerbaijan play against the USA who had defeated Moldova 42-26.

Nigeria are second in the group standings, with a lower goal difference (+12) than the USA (+16) and will need a bigger win than their counterparts to win the group, provided both teams win their matches.