Lion Mountain Handball Club (LMHC), dubbed Kings of the court, won their first major trophy in men’s handball on Friday evening at the Siaka Stevens Stadium Handball Court.
Lion Mountain overpowered the defending champions RSLAF with an 18-11 victory in which they came from behind in the fascinating West Area Handball Championship Cup final.
RSLAF controlled the game in the first half and ended the half with a 7-5 advantage. They started the second half by extending their lead, but the Lions were too tough to overcome.
The King of the court did a magnificent job during the second half to take the lead in the game. They fought hard like lions with aggressive attacks and a strong defensive set up.
Lion Mountain players were more composed, vigorous and enthusiastic in the second half than RSLAF players who lost focus due to lots of defensive errors.
RSLAF Teddy Campbell believed the defeat to Lion Mountain came as a result of the red card showed to one of his teammates who was very influential in the match.
“The red card was against us. It destroyed our game plan to the extent that we couldn’t change our strategy in the match at that particular time,” he claimed.
Campbell added, “The card was the main reason for our defeat. It has nothing to do with fatigue. If it was based on that, we shouldn’t have taken the lead. I will not blame the officiating team so much on the decision, but apparently, they should take the blame for this dismal setback we suffered today”.
Lion Mountain Captain, A. B. George delightfully said it was good to beat the defending champions with a perfect victory. Affirming the victory doesn’t come as a surprise as they worked as a team to achieve their goal of winning this year’s trophy.
The Captain said, “We were better than them in the second half because we have so many youthful players in our squad. RSLAF players were more physical, but due to our fast pace, they became uncomfortable”.
“And that was what we bent on to defeat them because we knew they’ve exhausted and they couldn’t stand our speedy approach which works well for us”.
The champions take home Le1,500,000, while the runners up, RSLAF, received Le1,000,000.
FANT-Salone Handball Club was awarded as the most behaved team in the competition with a token of Le500,000. The best player of the tournament was Lion Mountain, Abubakarr Bangura. Mohamed Kamara of Shengbeh Pieh Handball Club was awarded highest goal scorer after scoring 17 goals in the competition.
As champions, Lion Mountain will be representing Western Area in the Sierra Leone Handball Association National Kargbo Hope trophy to be held in Masiaka this year.
Monday May 29, 2017.
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