16 November 2006

NIGERIA : Peaks, Warriors Return for Lagos 2006

Plateau Peaks and Dodan Warriors, the two Nigerian teams participating in the 21st FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Men tagged Lagos 2006 are scheduled to arrive in Lagos for the competition today, a member of the Main Organising Committee for the championship said yesterday.
Although there were initial doubts about the fate of Plateau Peaks, over the political crisis in the state, the organisers confirmed that the team would hit the Lagos venue of the championship this morning. Peaks are in the competition as the Nigerian champions but played through the qualifiers in Cote d’ Ivoire last month.
Also, hosts team Dodan Warriors would return to Lagos for the competition from Cotonou, where they featured in an international friendly tournament last weekend and trained for the championship.
The Commercial Bank of Kenya swelled the number of teams that have arrived for the event to four yesterday, although a fifth team, ABC of Cote d’Ivoire, was scheduled to land in Lagos last night on an Ethiopian Airline flight.
A member of the Main Organising Committee for Lagos 2006, Alhaji Danladi Yaro told a news conference in Lagos that all hands were on deck for the organisation of a successful competition.
Yaro said the pre-match meeting slated for 5pm tomorrow would determine the technical details of the competition.
Yaro said arrangements had been put in place for tight security in the National Stadium during the Champions Cup, which Nigeria is hosting for the first time.
“The Nigeria Basketball Federation is fully behind the Warriors,” Segun Akinlotan, the Secretary-General of the NBBF added.
And as part of the crowd control measure, the gate fee has been pegged at a flat rate of N100 for the preliminary round.
Cote d’ Ivoire has three teams, including defending champions ABC, in the competition, while Nigeria and Angola are being represented by two teams each. Kenya, South Africa, Congo (DR and Brazzaville) and Guinea all have one team each.

By Pius Ayinor

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