Thursday, 28 August 2014

Basketball: Nigerian coach breaks Cup jinx in Benin Rep

Former Bauchi Nets coach, Umar Bala has made history in neighbouring Benin Republic, winning the first silverware for his club, Renaissance basket­ball of Cotonou.
Bala, who played for Kano Pillars before delv­ing into coaching picked the trophy of the country’s elite league, beating former champions, ASPAC bas­ketball club also of Coto­nou in a fiercely fought en­counter that ended 75-69 in over time.
An elated Bala told Daily Sunsports after the encoun­ter that he was happy for bringing relief to the fol­lowers of the team that had dreamt endlessly for the country’s top prize in bas­ketball.
“I must tell you that I’m glad that finally, the hopes and aspirations of the owner of the team and the supporters have become a reality by virtue of us win­ning this trophy. They have tried ceaselessly for over a decade but have fallen short and I have brought them succour. I told the president of the club that I came to his team to prove a point and I’ve done that,” he stated.
Incidentally, Umar got to glory land, beating a fel­low Nigerian colleague in the final. ASPAC coached by Charles Osho formerly of Comets of Lagos had everything going for him in the dying seconds of the match, but his captain, Brice Yovo threw away the game out of excitement with scores at 62-62.
Newly elected FIBA Af­rica Zone 3 President, Col Sam Ahmedu (retd) on Saturday, August 23, 2014 carried out his first official duty, with a visit to the Be­nin Republic Basketball Federation, where he was the special guest of honour at the finals of the Benin Republic League.
A proud Benin Republic Basketball Federation Pres­ident, Alex Paraiso, whose team incidentally emerged champions celebrated along with members of his federation that the newly elected FIBA Africa Zone 3 president was on hand to hand over the champions trophy.

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