Sports
Dreams Basketball tournament kicks off in Ibadan
The third edition of the Dreams Basketball tournament dunked off on Monday at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan, with 10 clubs competing for honors in the male and female categories.
The participating teams comprise eight male and two female clubs.
The male clubs are: Hoop Dreams Nigeria, Showtime of Ibadan, University of Ibadan, Liberty Spears Ibadan and Egbeda Local Government Basketball of Ibadan.
Others are D’warrior of Lagos, Vision Basketball of Abeokuta and Raptors Basketball Academy of Lagos.
The female teams are: Oluyole Babes of Ibadan and Amazon of Lagos.
Coach Dayo Emmanuel of Hoop Dreams said his team is in the tournament to retain the title won in the last edition.
Emmanuel said, ”Every champion wants to remain a champion. No champion wants to go down. We’re here with the same mentality and spirit we came with last year.
”We are here to retain the title. We have put in so much effort into training prior to the competition.
”We’ve covered all the grounds needed for us to retain the title. The players are in good shape ; we’ve done our bit collectively.
”As a coach, I have done my part. It’s now left for the boys to prove themselves on the court,” he said.
NAN reports that the tournament is being sponsored by Tunji Soroye, a former national basketball player.
According to the organizer, the winner in the male category will get N600,000, while the second placed team will receive N400,000.
The champion in the female category will receive N300,000 while the second placed team will get N200,000.
In some of the matches played do far, Showtime Hoopers won Hoop Dreams Nigeria 46-39.
Similarly, the University of Ibadan defeated Liberty Spears 59-4, while Raptors Basketball Academy of Lagos defeated Egbeda Local Government Basketball club 40-27.
Team Nigeria wrestlers will depart the country on Wednesday for Spain for a pre Olympic tournament in Madrid, before settling in Germany for their last camping ahead of the games proper.
Daniel Igali, President, Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), told the News on Tuesday in Abuja that athletes have been in camp for a couple of weeks, training.
According to Igali, six wrestlers who will fly the nation’s flag at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France have been unveiled by the federation.
Igali said that he was optimistic that the wrestlers would put up a good performance at the Olympics.
“Yesterday, six wrestlers were celebrated in a colourful ceremony at the Dynamite Wrestling Gym in Yenagoa, Bayelsa.
“The athletes will not only participate in the Paris Olympics but they will compete and win medals to make the country proud.
“They have passed through a lot of training during their camping and I am sure they will surpass their previous performance,” he said.
Team Nigeria wrestlers comprises five female, one male freestyle wrestler and three coaches.
The wrestlers are: Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, Blessing Oborodudu (68kg), the African champion Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) and Military World Champion, Hannah Reuben (76kg).
Others are the African champions and Olympics debutants, Esther Kolawole (62kg) and Ogunsanya Christinah (53kg) as well as Ashton Mutuwa, who will compete in the men’s freestyle (125kg).
The coaches are Victor Kodei, Purity Akuh and Happiness Burutu.
Slovenia manager Matjaz Kek was proud that his players had created a culture that would help the national team build for the future.
The team suffered a heartbreaking exit from Euro 2024 in a 3-0 shootout loss to Portugal in the last-16 on Monday.
Slovenia’s three penalties saved by goalkeeper Diogo Costa spelled the end of their tournament after an excellent defensive effort saw them hold Portugal to a 0-0 draw after extra time.
“Of course, they’re sad today, and this confirms my viewpoint,” Kek said. “It would be pathetic to speak about how they are heroes and so on and so forth.
“No, those are players who have created a national team culture that we have been missing in Slovenia.
“They have proven themselves, even those who are not playing the games, what it means to be playing for the Slovenian national team.
“I am the smallest character in this team. You have no idea what a privilege it is to be leading such a national team and that we can play the biggest teams in Europe and the world,”he said.
Striker Benjamin Sesko had two one-on-one scoring chances in the first 90 minutes, the first he scuffed wide and the second saved by Costa will surely long torment the 21-year-old.
Slovenia, who is 51 places below Portugal in FIFA’s global rankings, sputtered in the shootout with Costa saving spot kicks from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic.
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