Basketball in Africa

All is now set for the 18th Milo Secondary Schools Basketball championships with the state preliminaries billed to dunk off from February 22 through 26.

Announcing this in Lagos yesterday, Managing Director and Chief Executive, Nestle Nigeria, Dhanersh Gordhon said, "This year's championship will involve 9,000 secondary schools across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT as we continue the search for that potential talent that will begin the quest to reach his or her goal in life."

In the same vain, Olufemi Akintola, Category Manager Nestle Nigeria said, state champions will clash with their counterparts in the zonal stage which begins 21 April to 19 May.

According to him, competition in the Western Conference which has Lagos as host, will flag off between April 21 and 27. This will be followed by Central Conference with Ilorin as centre from April 27 to May 4, while the Confluence Conference with Lokoja as host will hold its competition between May 5 and 12.The Equatorial Conference will be hosted by Enugu between May 13 and 19.

For the first time in the history of the championship, the national finals will be held outside Lagos and Asaba, Delta State capital is the destination.

Defending the choice of Asaba, Akintola said, "it has to do with the tremendous support given the programme by the Delta State government."

This was evident as the Delta State Commissioner, Basic and Secondary Education, Chinedu Ebie and his Sports counterpart, Chief Tony Okowa who doubles as the Executive Chairman, Delta Sttae Sports Commission were at the press conference to assure all participating schools of the state's readiness to host a grand national finals.