Habib Ahmed, Kaduna’s Kada Queens handball team coach, has called on Governor Nasir El-Rufai to rescue the team from financial embarrassment as they vie for honours at the ongoing 2021 Prudent Energy Handball Premier League in Abuja.

He said the team’s situation was not improving any further, to the extent that the players played their games on empty stomachs.

“They (female and male teams) are always complaining of hunger, and most of the games we lost were due to hunger,” said the coach.

The coach disclosed on Tuesday that the team needed funds to clear accumulated bills since the commencement of the league.

Despite 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.

“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 explained. “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.”

He added that the players and the coaching staff “are no longer finding things easy,” pointing out that “we have accumulated bills, and we need the help of the state government to rescue the players. Since last week Thursday, we did not hear anything from anybody.”

The further stated, “We are all running out of time, and I can only plead with the secretary to come to our aid. We are losing more concentration, and while our players in the previous matches were not alright, but in Tuesday’s game, we played with hunger, and we won. But we have no hope of tomorrow for the players’ feeding and accommodation.”

(NAN)