Basketball in Africa

Oluyole Warriors of Ibadan and Police Baton of Lagos are scheduled to kick-start the 2013/ 2014 DStv Men's Basketball Premier League season on February 28.

Matches are also billed to continue across the Atlantic and Savannah conferences on March 7 in various centres in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Gombe and Kwara.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday to herald the new DSTV season, President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF), Tijani Umar, expressed his appreciation to Multichoice Nigeria Limited for the continous sponsorship of the league. "We are happy to be back for a new season which promises to be great and very entertaining.

"We thank our partners and sponsors, the DStv/Multichoice for unflinching support," observed Umar. According to the NBBF president, the newly inaugurated league committee will ensure proper registration of players. He said that the committee would also ensure that only licensed players and teams would feature in the league. "We have a code of conduct for both players and teams. We will be strict against indiscipline and will not allow unlicensed teams or players to feature in this edition," he noted.

Eight teams each in the Atlantic and the Savannah Conferences will play 14 matches each in the regular season. The first four teams in the two conferences will feature in the Final Eight in Lagos at a yet-to-be decided date.

The best two teams at the Final Eight will represent Nigeria in FIBA Africa's Continental Club Championship. Head of Marketing and Sales at Multichoice Nigeria, Martins Mabutho, also expressed the satisfaction of the pay tv company as the sponsors of Nigeria's Premier Male Basketball League.

He said that Multichoice renewed its sponsorship rights with the NBBF with vigour, adding that it remained committed to the league. Mabutho said that the renewal of the right in 2013 was to continue to develop the sport in Nigeria and the entire Africa. He noted that the company signed a three-year sponsorship for the 2013 -2016 seasons