18 Teams Qualify For AMK/NUGA 3-A-Side Basketball Finals

Eighteen teams have qualified for the final of the Ahmadu-Kida Foundation (AMK) and Nigeria University Games Association’s (NUGA) maiden 3-A-Side Basketball Competition beginning in Abuja on Friday.
The NUGA Basketball Chairman, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, made the disclosure to newsmen on Monday in Kaduna.
He said the teams consisted of five males, three females from Zaria Zone and five males and five females from Lagos zone.
He said hosts’ Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), did not disappoint their fans as they led the pack of universities that qualified from the northern part of the country.
The qualifiers for the North zone ended on Sunday morning at the Indoor Sports Hall of ABU, Zaria.
He said the host would be joined by Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Kaduna State University, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, and the University of Ilorin.
“Bayero University, Kano was not as lucky as they finished on the sixth spot and also unlucky were those who finished beneath them on the table.
“Others are Federal University Lokoja, Federal University Dutse, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBUNI), Lapai, University of Maiduguri and Federal University, Dutsinma, Katsina State.
In the female category, Bayero University topped the table, University of Ilorin was second and hosts ABU finished third. The three teams have qualified for the finals.
They will be joined by teams that had earlier qualified from Lagos zone, led by the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
Others are University of Ibadan (UI), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State University (ESUT) and Benson Idahosa University (BIU), Benin.
For the female category, UI leads the pack followed by UNILAG, BIU, UNN and UNIZIK.
Ahmed said that he was expecting a tough competition in Abuja from March 3, added that those from Lagos and Zaria zones did so after stiff competition.
However, he advised them to prepare themselves for a stiffer outing in Abuja when the best of the best converge.
Ahmed praised the AMK Foundation for keeping faith with NUGA Basketball by bankrolling the competition and assuring participants that only the best team will emerge to represent Nigeria at the World Universities Tournament.
The AMK Foundation is a non-profit charity organisation with interest in youths’ empowerment through sports.
President of the Foundation, Musa Kida, is a former senior national basketball player and board member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).