The Gambia U-20 female handball team are expected to participate in the second edition of the Africa Challenge female Zone II competition in Bamako, Mali, scheduled between August 15 to 22, this year.

The players for the past one month have been undergoing intensive training at the Independence Stadium in preparation for the competition that will bring together eight countries including the host Mali, Guniea, Guniea Bissau, Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Sierra Leone.

Ben Hooper, the head coach of the Gambia female handball team has told Observer Sports at the team's training ground that his players are very anxious for the week-long championship as evident in their commitment at the training ground. "This will be the first-ever major international event involving the Gambia female handball team and the players have so far demonstrated that they are up for the challenge," he said."We are currently training with 22 players and 14 will make the final list for the championship, and it appears that everyone is fighting for a place in that final list."

Amie Manneh, one of the 22 players training for the mid-August tournament, said she and her colleagues are looking forward the Bamako championship that is initiated by the international handball body."It’s the dream of every player to represent his/her country in an international competition, and we cannot wait to have our chance," she said with a broad smile on her face.

Unanswered question
The Gambia handball team's last trip to Bamako in March 2009 ended in a tragedy. On that occasion, the male team were returning from a regional U-20 Zone II tournament when the vehicle in which the team were travelling somersaulted three times, leaving many players with severe injuries.A preliminary investigation into that incident by the National Sports Council led to the sanctioning of two senior members of the handball association.

The then president Kebba Jobe and team coach ML Dumbuya were handed an indefinite ban after it was reported that the duo had connived to rub the association of the fund meant to airlift the team to Mali. A sum of over D60, 000 [sixty thousand dalasis] was later recovered from the embattled officials, albeit the whereabouts of the recovered amount, Observer Sports has gathered, continues to raise more questions than answers.