Sports
NBBF President Laments Legal Encumbrances On B’Ball
The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Mr Musa Kida, has lamented the “legal encumbrances” that had held back a robust National Premier League for men in the country.
A statement yesterday, made available by Afolabi Oni, Board Member (NBBF) on Media, quoted Kida as saying that for the past three years the federation had been at the centre of a legal tussle.
The President said that a country with huge potentials in basketball like Nigeria should have a highly competitive men’s basketball league that would afford players, coaches and officials a chance to develop their skills.
According to him, having acquired a N150 million sponsorship deal from Total Nigeria for the leagues in Divisions One and Two, “organising a robust premier league will never have been a problem but for the legal encumbrances”.
“They handcuffed us and slapped us and we cannot cry. We are legally stopped from having that league. The sad part of this is that the Kwese League Management Board, under Olamide Oyedeji, and Gombe Bulls, took us to court to stop us from running a league.
“These are people who, over the years claim to have the interest of developing Nigeria’s home grown basketball at heart,” Kida said .
Kida said pledging their love and promotion of basketball, while stopping thousands of stakeholders from playing basketball at the highest level was hard to reconcile, as the action has stopped clubs from playing and players from earning a living.
“To (also) stop coaches from improving themselves and stop many clubs from continental and global representation all in the name of politics, it does not add up,” Kida said.
In our quest to ensure that basketball players in the premier league get engaged, Kida said, “I, as President, decided to have a champion for Nigeria.
“I had proposed continental participation without a sponsor and went ahead to organise what we called President Cup for all the clubs that were in the premier league. This would give them a chance to play, while we try to vacate the injunction in court
“We organised the President’s Cup, some clubs did not come but most of them participated, and I was personally cited for contempt”, after these same people who took us to court in the first instance, made a submission to the court that we were trying to circumvent the injunction by doing a President’s Cup.
Kida also said that he believed Nigeria should have a lot of championships, which should never stop the Premier Basketball from going on.
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Chess Championship: Dan-Jumbo Emerges Best Female Player
The third edition of Naphtail Chess Open Championship which ended on Wednesday in Port Harcourt saw Rivers State born Queen Dan-Jumbo emerged best female player in the tournament following her impressive performance.
It was clash of the Titans as top Chess players in Nigeria gathered to chase honours.
The three days competition was held at Vee Hotel, Trans Amadi ,in Port Harcourt and over 80 players in Nigeria registered for the tournament this championship was recognised by International Chess Federation (FIDE).
Speaking with Tidesports in an exclusive interview on Saturday, Dan-Jumbo said her dream was to become Grand Master in Chess worldwide.
According to her, she started playing Chess at the age of 15 but went into it professionally in 2009 as she represented Rivers State in National Sports Festival (NSF) in Kaduna, the same year.
“I started playing Chess in the early 2000s. I picked the interest through my my elder brother as him and his friends always play Chess in our compound so I began to learn it.
” In 2009 I went to National Sports festival in Kaduna represented Rivers State and I won a silver medal on my board.
“In 2011 and 2012 NSFs I won two Gold medals each hosted by Rivers and Lagos States respectively. While in Edo NSF I won bronze medal” Dan-Jumbo said.
The Asari-Toru, in Rivers State born Chess player use the forum to advice upcoming Chess players to be focus, saying losing a game is part of every competition but the most important thing was that you don’t lose hope.
“My advice for upcoming chess players was that don’t lose focus. Even when you lose, find a way to adjust and get back out”, she added.
Tonye Orabere
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