The erstwhile coach, who passed on earlier this week, made his mark on the sport on the local front when he qualified and led the senior national women’s handball team to the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, which till date remains the only occasion Nigeria has featured in the handball event of at the Olympiad.

Atusu later assumed the role of Director of Sports Development in Sokoto State and was also in charge of local outfit Rima Strikers of Sokoto, where he groomed and nurtured promising handball players.

President of the HFN, Samuel Ocheho, expressed his profound commiseration following the death of coach Atusu, “The death of Coach Patrick Anthony Atusu is a huge loss not just to the Handball Federation of Nigeria but to the entire Nigerian sports fraternity. He was a pillar of excellence and an architect of greatness in our game. On behalf of the Federation, I commiserate with his family and the entire Nigerian handball family. His legacy will live on through the many lives he touched and the foundations he laid.”

Atusu served as head coach of both the national male and female handball teams for over two decades, leaving an indelible mark on the sport as he impacted the lives of athletes who played under him. A host of former players under his tutelage were present at the Sokoto Central Cemetery on Friday to pay their final respects to the man they regarded as their mentor and legend.