Our teams showed high knowledge of basketball, says Ahmedu  

Fallout of FIBA AfricaZone Three championship

FOR their efforts at the recently concluded Africa Zone Three Championship in Cotonou, Benin Republic, President of the zone, Colonel Sam Ahmedu (rtd), has commended the nation’s representatives for displaying a high level of understanding of the game of basketball. 

In the men’s category, champions, Kano Pillars and runners up, Mark Mentors were given a good run by ASPAC of Benin, Customs Braves of Ghana and Migthy Barrolle of Liberia. The three-man officiating concept was used and the championship was used to propagate a cancer awareness campaign, something not seen before in sports around this part of the world. 

He gave kudos to the technical and administrative acumen of the administrative and technical officials who made the tournament a memorable one. “Administratively and technically, the competition went well. From the administrative point of view, games were played on schedule as a result of the good programming and division of labour, which was well coordinator.

“The tournament was funded by the zone. Leaving our Zone Headquarters in Lagos to another country to organize this event was an administrative feat in itself, considering that we had to transport the fibre glass uprights, scoreboards and shot clocks from Lagos to Cotonou and back at extreme cost. Marrying the Zone staff with the Benin Basketball Federation (BBF) staff was another big plus as both parties worked harmoniously.”  

According to the president, the board is targeting the grassroots, which will involve taking the game to the door steps of member countries. “We started with the 3X3 in Lagos and now we expect to do mobile 3X3 competitions. Which is why the Zone has acquired a 48 foot Truck courtesy of our partner AMK Foundation to move our equipment from place to place to develop the game.