Basketball in Africa

shola Bashir
Abuja

All is now set for the finals of this year's Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Championship billed for today at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

Over 60,000 boys and girls who represented over 3,000 schools across the 36 states of the federation, including the FCT, competed in the championship at both the state eliminations and conference playoffs.

It will be recalled that this 9th edition of the championship started with the state preliminaries in February, after which the conference playoffs kicked-off in June at the six usual conferences: the Savannah, Sahara, Central, Equatorial, Atlantic and Western conferences.

Category Business Manager, (Beverages), Mr. Walter Okafor, explained that each of the winning teams in both the boys and girls categories will go home with =N=150,000, while the first and second runners-up will get =N=100,000 and =N=75,000 respectively. In addition, the champions and the first runner-up will each be given a pair of basketball uprights for their schools.

"There will be trophies for Fair Play, Most Valuable Player (MVP), Most Entertaining Teams, Best 3-point shooters, and a medal for each member of the top three teams, while certificates of participation will be presented to all the participants, including all match

officials and commissioners, Mr. Okafor said.

Top government officials, management and senior staff of Nestle Nigeria Plc, coaches, players, scouts as well as basketball lovers and followers are expected to grace today's final ceremony, which will start from 12noon.

Below are past winners of the championship from inception.

Past Winners of the championship:
1999: Airforce Secondary School, Ikeja - boys
Yejide Girls Secondary School, Ibadan - girls
2000: Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Kano - boys
Nana College, Warri - girls
2001: St. Thomas Basic Schools, Benin-City - boys
Nana College, Warri - girls
2002: Wahab Folawiyo School, Lagos - boys Nana College, Warri - girls
2003: United Christian Secondary School, Apapa - boys Nana College, Warri - girls2004: Loyola College, Ibadan - boys United Xtian Sec Schl Apapa - girls
2005: Ahmadiyya College, Kano - boys Army Day Sec. School, Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja - girls
2006: Sheik Abubakar Gumi College, Kaduna - boys.