21 November 2008
NIGERIA : African Basketball - First Bank Wins, Dolphins Loses
by Pius Ayinor
Lagos
After brushing aside their opponents on Wednesday, Dolphins of Nigeria yesterday lost by 56-55 to CSA of Cote d'Ivoire in the FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers, which began in Lome, Togo on Monday. On Tuesday Dolphins had defeated Energie of Benin Republic 89-18 in the battle for final tickets to Kenya later this month.
But on a day that turned out not quite satisfactory for Dolphins, Nigeria's first representative to the competition First Bank beat the same Energie 84-36 to keep a clean slate. A day before that game the Nigerian Zenith League champions defeated UBC of Benin 82-34.
"We have prepared well for this event and we believe we will scale through to the Nairobi finals. We are looking towards Kenya positively," Shola Ogunade the assistant coach of First Bank told THISDAYSport before the ride though the borders.
In another match played on Day 3 of the championship ABC of Cote d'Ivoire defeated Etoile of Togo 87-16 in another of the many one-sided games being played in Togo.
The two Nigerian teams who made it to the final stage of the competition in Maputo, Mozambique last year are amongst other six teams contending for three slots for Africa Zone 3 in the Nairobi final play off.
Teams from Nigeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Ghana are participating in the competition. The Nairobi finals will hold from November 20th - 29th while the qualifiers in Lome will round off by the weekend.
Lagos
After brushing aside their opponents on Wednesday, Dolphins of Nigeria yesterday lost by 56-55 to CSA of Cote d'Ivoire in the FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers, which began in Lome, Togo on Monday. On Tuesday Dolphins had defeated Energie of Benin Republic 89-18 in the battle for final tickets to Kenya later this month.
But on a day that turned out not quite satisfactory for Dolphins, Nigeria's first representative to the competition First Bank beat the same Energie 84-36 to keep a clean slate. A day before that game the Nigerian Zenith League champions defeated UBC of Benin 82-34.
"We have prepared well for this event and we believe we will scale through to the Nairobi finals. We are looking towards Kenya positively," Shola Ogunade the assistant coach of First Bank told THISDAYSport before the ride though the borders.
In another match played on Day 3 of the championship ABC of Cote d'Ivoire defeated Etoile of Togo 87-16 in another of the many one-sided games being played in Togo.
The two Nigerian teams who made it to the final stage of the competition in Maputo, Mozambique last year are amongst other six teams contending for three slots for Africa Zone 3 in the Nairobi final play off.
Teams from Nigeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Ghana are participating in the competition. The Nairobi finals will hold from November 20th - 29th while the qualifiers in Lome will round off by the weekend.
# posted by afrbk : 15:28
