Sports
Women’s Basketball League Improving – Coach
Coach Lateef Erinfolami of First Deepwater Basketball Club, Lagos, on Wednesday in Abuja observed that there had been a marked improvement in the annual Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League.
The coach told newsmen in an interview that the competition, which is in its seventh edition and is played in three phases annually, had been improving every season.
“The league is really improving and it has been improving gradually,’’ he said on the sidelines of the ongoing first phase competition of the league.
The 10-team league’s first phase, which kicked off on May 13 and will end on May 22, is holding at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Abuja National Stadium. Erinfolami pointed out that the intensity of competition in the first phase and the league generally had indeed improved. “In fact, going by what we have here (in Abuja) this year, there has been a marked improvement.
I have been impressed with the performances of one or two teams.“For example, the likes of FCT Angels of Abuja and Nigerian Immigration of Kano were usually beaten by the big teams with as many as between 40 and 60 points.
But now, they are very hard to beat,’’ he said.The coach said the competition had helped the country’s women basketball players, adding that competitions helped players to grow in experience and confidence.
“I believe our players have been learning from their experiences in the league and this helps to keep them busy also.“If we can get more competitions for them, things will change.
We all know that they get more confident and grow in experience with competitions,’’ he said.Speaking on his team, Erinfolami said the three-year-old club is confident of retaining its title. “We have been taking each game as they come and I am hopeful that we will get better and peak in form in the next few days.
“I hope that this will happen by the time we face the likes of Sunshine Angels of Akure and First Bank of Lagos as the days progress,’’ he said.First Deepwater have won the five matches they have played so far in the league’s first phase.They beat FCT Angels 84-44, AHIP of Kano 80-38, Nigerian Immigration 85-52, Dolphins of Lagos 73-64 and Nigeria Customs of Lagos 79-29.They were to meet Plateau Peaks of Jos yesterday, Delta Force of Asaba today, Sunshine Angels tomorrow and First Bank on Sunday.First Deepwater had finished second in their first season in the league in 2009, and won the competition in 2010 by dethroning perennial champions First Bank.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.