Tojemarine Academy, Safety Babes win Ardova Handball Premier League

Tojemarine Handball Club and Safety Babes, at the weekend, became champions of the 2024 Ardova Handball Premier League following outstanding performances in the phase two of the competition held at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Institute of Sports, Lagos.

Tojemarine finished top of the men’s league table with 64 points following their 36-33 victory over second placed Rima Strikers of Sokoto, which ended with 59 points.

It was Tojemarine’s first league title in their history. They also made history as the first team based in the South to win the league in this era (2017 to 2024 era).

Defending champions, Niger United, defeated Correction Boys 38-24 to finish third with 58 points, while Safety Shooters finished outside the podium for the first time since 2019.

They ended in the fourth position with 57 points despite beating their seventh-placed Abuja city rivals, De-Defenders, 27-21.

For not meeting the required standards, Sunshine Kings will return to the division one following their relegation from the Ardova Handball Premier League. This demotion was hastened by their 29-22 loss to former champions, Kano Pillars.

Sunshine Kings are joined in the relegation train by Confluence Stars.

Kano Pillars ended the league in fifth position with 47 points.

Adamawa Warriors escaped relegation on the final day with a 35-33 victory over Seasider Boys of Lagos. They owed their 10th place finish with 33 points to the marvelous performance of Friday Pagiel Saipwa, who scored vital goals to win the highest goal scorer award with 151 goals.

In the women’s category, Safety Babes won an unprecedented fourth league title on the stretch and their overall fifth by defeating their Abuja rivals and second placed Defender Babes 36-32 to finish with 54 points; nine points above Defender Babes.

That victory stretched their winning streak to 53 matches since 2022.

In 55 matches, they have won 53 matches, drawn one and lost one match, which happened to be a dead rubber game against Defender Babes in 2022 when they also won the league.

Defender Babes ended season in second place with 45 points, but they produced the highest goal scorer of the league in Abdulrasaq Idowu Bolanle, who had 151 goals

Imo Grasshoppers finished fourth with 40 points following their final day loss to Rima Queens (33-31) in a fiercely contested third placed battle, which Rima Queens won to end with 41 points.

Imo Grasshoppers had something to celebrate though as their star player, Ohakwe Udochukwu, was voted as the most valuable player of the Ardova Handball Premier League 2024.

In the women’s league, COAS Babes and Bendel Dynamos were relegated to the lower division for not meeting the standard set by others in the competition.

The finale was witnessed by the top management of Ardova PLC led by Chairman, Dr Abdulwasiu Sowami, representative of the DG of the National Sports Commission and other top invited guests.