President of FIBA Africa Zone 3, Col Sam Ahmedu (retd) has commended the Nigeria Customs Service for hosting of the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Women’s Basketball qualifiers.
The five-day tournament will be held at the Mo Arena, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja between 2nd and 6th December, 2023.
Speaking at a press conference heralding the competition in Abuja on Saturday, Ahmedu who was represented by the Vice President of FIBA Women’s Development of Africa Zone 3, Professor Florence Adeyanju, urged the participating teams to cooperate with the officials and channel whatever complaints they may have to the appropriate authorities in order to have a hitch-free competition.
“On behalf of the FIBA Africa Zone 3 President, Samuel Ahmedu, I want to thank the host of this competition, the Nigeria Customs Service for this laudable idea to host such an important championship in Nigeria. As we look forward to a hitch-free tournament, I want to enjoin all the participating teams to cooperate with the organiser and channel their complaints to the right authorities.”
The Chairman Local Organising Committee (LOC), Samuel Onikeku, who expressed satisfaction over the hosting of the competition said the Nigeria Customs Service Women’s Basketball team is prepared and ready to pick one of the tickets to represent the zone in the final round of the qualifier in Egypt later this month.
“At short notice, we have prepared our team and we have done everything to make sure that they excel. This qualifier is just a stepping stone to Egypt. We hope that at the end of this championship, we will be able to qualify to represent the zone in Egypt.
“This is another opportunity for Nigeria Customs Service to show that they will continuously support sports which underscores our performances in all sporting activities. The championship will bring a lot of attention to Nigeria, especially from the West African region,” Onikeku told Tribune Sports.
The four participating teams are the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), MFM Women’s Basketball team, Air Warriors all from Nigeria and ASPAC of Benin Republic. The two top teams from Zone 3 will join other zones in Egypt for the final phase of the qualifiers which will hold from 11th to 19th December, 2023.
The FIBA Zone 3 comprises countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger Republic, Nigeria and Togo.
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