The Sports Secretary of Nigeria Customs Service, Samuel Onikeku, on Saturday said five days’ notice is not enough to prepare for a competition.
Onikeku disclosed this after his team, the Nigeria Custom, lost to Kano Pillars 68-83 in their second match in the ongoing super eight Men’s Premier Basketball League, at the package B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The Nigeria Custom had earlier defeated Kwara Falcons 76-73 in their first match on Friday.
This match is supposed to be the second match for Kano Pillars but due to the absence of Lagos Islanders, Kano Pillars walked over them in the first match on Friday.
The secretary said the short notice given to everybody affected the team. We did not have a long time in camp, we were waiting for them to notify us so can we can start preparation.
“We did not have enough time to practice, we won our first match against Kwara Falcons on Friday, I believe we should be in the semi-final, we will play better in our next match.
“Kano Pillars have been Champion several time,s we lost so many throws which affected the game,
“The organization would have been better if they had given us at least two weeks to prepare better, we did not have one practice session.
“Our first training session was our first game against Kwara Falcons,” he said.
He added “if we qualify for Basketball Africa League (BAL), we will represent and make the country proud.”
The coach of Nigeria Custom, Scott Many, said in spite the loss, his players played a better game compared to their first match against Kwara Falcons.
“It was a good match, my team lost to a better side because, we were put at the disadvantage,.
“We are hoping that Kano Pillars will beat Kwara Falcons so that we will go to the semi final,” he said.
On his part, the coach of Kano Pillars, Sani Ahmed, said he was impressed with the performance of his team.
He said he has the best set of players in the competition.
“I’m not expecting anything less than to win all our games which is our target,” he said.
In the other matches played in day two: Gombe Bulls thrashed Benue Braves 80-45 in the first match.
Kwara Falcons walked over Lagos Islanders in the second match, while Rivers Hoopers beat Police Batons 64-48 in the third match.
The eight participating teams in the Super 8 Men’s Premier Basketball League are divided into Atlantic Conference and Savannah Conference.
The Atlantic Conference teams are: Rivers Hoppers, Kwara Falcons, Lagos Islanders and Police Batons.
Savannah Conference team are Kano Pillars, Gombe Bulls, Nigeria Customs and Benue Braves.
The winner of the League will represent Nigeria at the 2021 Basketball Africa League (BAL), scheduled to hold later in the year.
The 2021 Super 8 Men’s Premier Basketball League is organised by the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development due to the crisis in the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).
The competition which started on Nov. 12 is expected to end on Nov. 17
Comment:*
Nickname*
E-mail*
Website
