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Imo Heartland Wins South-East Basketball Tourney

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Imo Heartland Basketball Club, Owerri over the weekend emerged champions of the inaugural edition of the South-East Basketball Invitational Championships
The team from the Eastern Heartland State defeating the host team Coalcity Basketball club of Enugu by 43-42 at the indoor Sports Hall of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.
Despite the heavy downpour which affected the finals with the licking roof recently claimed to be rehabilitated by the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports, FMYS, the final game lived up to expectations as both teams displayed aggression, energy, passion, and scintillating basketball skills to the admiration and excitement of the fans, supporters, and lovers of the slam-and-dunk game.
The 4-day competition which dunked off on the 8th of June 2022, and organised by the SouthEast Basketball Association, had in attendance the five states that made up the Zone, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo competing for the star prize.
Addressing the players from his base in the United States, a board member of the South East Basketball Association Kelechi Anuna, a silver medalist at the 2017 Afrobasket, reiterated that both the active players and veterans in the diaspora whose origin is from the zone are committed to taking the game to greater heights, reassuring that the crisis rocking the country’s federation will not deter their focus and Vision
“We are condemned to the goals and aspiration of the talents that abound the South East and will continue to do our best in the repositioning of the zone notwithstanding the challenges that we are faced with the recent being the ban placed on international competitions by the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development” he said.
The visitors’ Heartland started the competition on a brighter note, edged past team Ebonyi in the first game, lost two straight games to Abia and Enugu respectively, and scaled through to the semifinal to defeat Abia by 35-33.
While the Coalcity kings (Enugu) led by light and co basking in the euphoria of the home support dominated and outclassed all their opponents’ enroute to the final but lost one game to Anambra also by a slim margin of 24-25.
Similarly, Team Abia one of the exciting sides in this year’s edition of the competition, possessed quality, teamwork, ball distribution, skills, and physicality but unfortunately lost in the final quarter of the semifinal to Imo.
Anambra another side that showed signs of Un-coordination in their offensive and defensive play, likewise in their re-bounce failed to utilise their opportunities but still manage to play while team Ebonyi were the whipping boys of the tournament, losing four straight games.
In her words, the Coach of Team Imo, Ogbonnaya Chikadibia while expressing happiness with the performance of the team and also winning the competition in her debut coaching experience, stated that she was tensed up all through the 4th quarter until the last few seconds of the game.
According to the secretary of the South East Basketball association Osondu Ngwude, the train move to another state in the next few months as the Board of SEBA has concluded plans to develop the game in the zone.

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How Day Six Lifted Rivers At NYG

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Team Rivers added six more medals to their total haul on Day 7 of the National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State. The medals include two gold and four bronze.
In 4×400 metres male, the quartet of Michael Aniche, Benjamin Progress (both 13), Willngton Majesty and Daniel Caleb (both 14) returned a time 3 mins, 26 secs to pick the gold medal.
In 4×400 metres girls, four 14-year-olds Osinachi Miracle Sunny, Queen Nwika, Esther Barasin and Valerie Amapakagbo, came third behind Delta and Anambra to get bronze.
Still in the relays, this time in the 4×100 metres for boys, 14-year-old Itoemugh Kingsley teamed up with Daniel Caleb, Michael Aniche and Gauis Expensive for yet another bronze medal performance.
Gaius Expensive, a 14-year-old SS3 student of Community Secondary School, Ogan-Ama narrowly surrendered second place to his Akwa Ibom counterpart to land his second bronze of the day, in the 200 metres boys, while age-mate Honest Dike of Baptist Vocational College, Ahoada also landed bronze in the 800 metres boys, behind Taraba and Gombe.
The second gold medal of the day for Team Rivers came in the final of baseball for boys. The team found themselves one run down before rallying to beat Kwara by 4 runs to 3.
The game which was almost marred by trouble was disrupted when the crowd, solidly behind the Rivers side perceived some fowl officiating.
However, the team, which according to Coach Fineface Fate and manager, Shaibu Adamson has been together for about a year, came from behind to win, with runs from Abdulkadiri Idowu, Yusuf Sodiq, Abdulfatai Abdullahi and Matthew Ayoola.
The games ended yesterday with the closing ceremony.

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Bakery Worker Secures Gold For Anambra In Asaba

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Anambra State Karateka, Goodluck Njoku defeated Joshua Ehiozubue from Lagos State with 7-0 points on Friday to win a gold medal in the 50kg boys karate event at the ongoing National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State.
The newly crowned 50kg champion revealed that he works in the bakery to support himself and to avoid social vices.
The 13-year-old said that it was while he was on his way to work that he met Sensei Godwin Okoro who introduced him to karate. Making his debut at the 2023 Youth Games,
Njoku promised not to disappoint the state in future national championships, noting that this is just the beginning.
“I want to thank God Almighty for his goodness and mercies in my life. In my category, I was the shortest, and I still won the gold medal. During the holidays, I work in the bakery to support myself and my parents because I do not want to remain idle.
“I attend Okpoko Community Primary School, and after closing hours, I still go to the bakery to make a little money. One day, Sensei Godwin Okoro saw me and decided to introduce me to karate. I do not know what he saw in me, but I thank God he took me in.
“The state has given me the necessary exposure at the National Youth Games, and this is an opportunity to give back to the state via winning medals. I want to assure you that this is just the beginning of the success story,” he said.

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Squash Top Seeds Show Class At Classics

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Top seeds, Onaopemipo Adegoke and Rophiat Abudulazeez showed class after winning the maiden edition of the Bolatito Adeyemo Squash Classics held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium at the weekend.
Top 16 players made up of eight men and eight women competed at the two-day tournament.
Adegoke who recently won his first Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament, defeated Gabriel Olufunmilayo 3-2 to clinch the men’s trophy.
Abudulazeez defeated Jadesola Olatunji 3-0 to reach the finals, while Adegoke defeated Kehinde Samuel by 3-0 to advance into the finals.
Abudulazeez defeated Mistura Durosinlorun 3-1 as she maintained dominance in the women’s category.
For her feat, Abudulazeez went home with N100,000 while Durosinlorun took N60, 000 home while Olatunji and Isaac humbly went home with N30,000 each.
“My trip to Namibia really got me tired but we can’t just ignore this tournament. My game in Namibia also helped but I’m really fagged out,” she said.
Adegoke said that training hard and having played in highly competitive tournaments in recent times have helped to keep him in form.
“Winning my first PSA title in Namibia was a dream come true, there was minus zero support from the audience but with God’s grace and a healthy mental strength I was able to keep it together,” he said.
Prize money for the men’s category is N130,000 while the second position goes home with N80,000 while the third position and fourth position goes home with N40,000 and N20,000 respectively.

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