The fourth edition of the Ibadan Basketball Championships tipped off on Friday at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan. The two-day competition features eight teams: six men’s teams and two women’s teams.
The participating men’s teams include Showtyme Hoopers, Liberty Spears, University of Ibadan, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Rising Stars, and defending champions Hoop Dreams, who suffered a loss in their opening game.
The women’s competition features Rising Stars and Showtyme Angels.
The fourth edition of the Ibadan Basketball Championships began on Friday at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan. The defending champions, Hoop Dreams, lost their opening game.
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Opeyemi Adekunle, the coach of Hoop Dreams, spoke after their game and said their goal remains retaining the title even though they lost their first match 63-70.
“We lost our first match to the University of Ibadan by seven points, but that will not derail us. We are here to retain our title.
“We played the first match in the tournament with fatigue and some other technical issues which made us lose.
“But we have put the loss behind us, and we are ready to play other games cautiously to achieve our target,” he said.
In other male competition games played on Friday, Showtyme Hoopers defeated The Polytechnic Ibadan 62-49, while the University of Ibadan defeated Liberty Spears 57-52.
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NAN reports that the male category winner will take home N250,000, while the first and second runners-up will receive N150,000 and N100,000, respectively.
In the female category, where the two participants will only face each other on Saturday, the winners will receive N200,000, while the losers will receive N150,000.
NAN reports that the championships is being sponsored by some retired Oyo State basketball players based in the diaspora.
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