SPORT First Bank, Dolphins win Zenith Women’s B’ball League first phase
NThe first phase of the National Women’s Basketball League sponsored by Zenith Bank ended in Abuja yesterday.
A total of 18 teams from various parts of the country took part in the competition which started on April 10 at the Package B Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Abuja.
However, three
igeria’s Esther Oribamise was among the four Africans that booked their places to the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games after the African Continental Qualification tournament ended yesterday at the Palais Des Sport El-Mensah in Tunis, Tunisia.
The other three African players that booked their passage to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games are Marwa Alhodaby of Egypt, Youssef Abdel-Aziz of Egypt and Nathael Hamdoun of Tunisia.
Despite missing out on participation at the recent 2017 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African Junior and Cadet Championships, Esther Oribamise was in terrific form at the continental qualification event deservedly sealed her spot to next year’s Youth Olympic Games.
Victory over Morocco’s Ines Outolla in the last four (11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-1) guaranteed a top two finish in the Girls’ Singles for Esther Oribamise, but the Nigerian contestant wasn’t done there with one more match still to be played.
Marwa Alhodaby awaited Esther Oribamise in the final with the Egyptian having secured qualification following her success against Tunisia’s Fadwa Garci in the penultimate round (11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 11-9).
However, despite her best efforts Marwa Alhodaby proved unable to finish her Tunis campaign with a win as Nigeria’s Esther Oribamise squeezed over the finish line with a 4-3 victory (116, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 13-11) to claim top spot in the competition.
“I think I was ready for her but I could not just fathom what happened when I was leading 3-1 in games and 4-1 in points in the fifth game only to lose the game. Even in the seventh game, I was top contenders maintained an unbeaten run so far in the league series which is expected to continue in Kaduna from May 1.
First Bank, Dolphins and Customs after the last round of matches maintained unbeaten run in the event.
First Bank defeated Taraba Hurricane 60-15, Dolphins whipped Zamfara 71-27 while Customs defeated Oluyole Babes 70-21. leading 8-2 and she caught up with me at 9-9, but I was calm to finish the match at 13-11. This victory and qualification for the Youth Olympic Games means a lot to me particularly after missing the ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships. I have proved a point to my compatriots that the Egyptians are beatable and they just need to believe in themselves,” Oribamise said.
The two players to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games from the Boys’
Based on the quality of performance put up by the participating teams in the first phase, the second phase to take place in Kaduna is expected to witness more fireworks when the top teams meet one another.
From Abuja, the league moves to Asaba, Ibadan and the grand finale is scheduled to take place in Lagos.
In Group A are First Bank, Nasarawa Amazons, Taraba Singles competition are Youssef AbdelAziz and Nathael Hamdoun after they claimed the top two positions on the final day of the qualifying event.
Tunisia’s Nathael Hamdoun was one of only two non-Egyptian competitors to gain titles at the 2017 ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships when he lifted the Under 21 Men’s Singles trophy, and the host nation representative has done his country proud once again after he booked his ticket to Buenos Aires for Hurricanes of Jalingo, Plateau Rocks, AHIP Queens of Kano and First Deep Water.
Group B has Dolphins, FCT Angels, Zamfara Babes of Gusau, Delta Force, Coal City and Sunshine Angles of Akure.
Also, Group C has Nigeria Customs of Lagos, GT 2000 of Kaduna, Oluyole Angels of Ibadan, Ekiti Angels, Benue Princess of Makurdi and IGP Queens. the 2018 Youth Olympic Games with a semi-finals win against Azeez Solanke of Nigeria (11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6).
Yet, the ultimate honour would fall upon an Egyptian contestant as Youssef Abdel-Aziz not only picked up a comfortable result in the semi-finals against Algeria’s Abdelbasset Chaichi (11-4, 11-7, 11-2, 11-3) but also saw off Nathael Hamdoun across six games (114, 14-16, 11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-2) to leave Tunis with a smile on his face.