The Nigeria Basketball Federation has invited 16 players to camp for the FIBA Africa organized 3×3 championships to be held in Lome, Togo.  The 3×3 men and women’s teams would be in camp for 8 days for the championship starting from the 1st of November.  The Women’s team would be led  by Nkechi Akashili and Chioma Udeaja both of First Bank Women Basketball Club of Lagos who were members of the 2017 Afrobasket women championship winning team in Mali.  The list released on Monday also has Chidinma Deborah and Nkemuwa Akaraiwe of First Bank who were also  part of the Afrobasket preparation.  IGP Queens Basketball club duo of Grace Okonkwo and Christiana Isaac and Dolphins’ Roselyn Queen Ulabo as well as Josette Anaswem complete the list of invited players. For the men, eight players were drawn from Kano Pillars, Civil Defence, Rivers Hoopers and Kwara Falcons for the apex 3×3 basketball event in Africa.  Yahaya Abdul, Azuoma Dike and Lucky Subel were invited from Pillars for the camping exercise, which would be held at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos.  Joel Ijigba of Civil Defence would be making his national team debut following an impressive season with Civil Defence if selected for the competition while the duo of River Hoopers of Port Harcourt players, Alalibo Owelem Ronald and Ebikoro Dennis Eteimowei and Kwara Falcons’ David Godwin complete the list of invited players for the men.  The team will be coordinated by the Federal Capital Territory Basketball Chairman who is the Director of 3×3 Nigeria, Frank Jituboh. Fifa said the award was shortlisted with input from national team coaches, national team captains, media representatives and fans, with each group getting a one quarter weighting. “The process is clear and transparent and we are not involved in the final selection of nominees,” Fifa said in a statement. “However, we have taken note of the concerns raised by the football community and our fans and will take this feedback on board in future editions of The Best Awards.” But Rapinoe said football’s world governing body should have stepped in. “If some random male player, who was not even a full professional, was nominated, I’m sure they would step in for that, so it’s disappointing that the same hasn’t been done for us,” she said. Castellanos plays for the Florida State university team and had never represented Venezuela at senior or even under-20 level. She has 14 goals in 15 games so far for Florida State this season and six in nine for Santa Clarita Blue Heat – the Californian pro-am outfit she turned out for in the off-season. The awards recognise performances between November 2016 and August 2017, and the winner will be announced at a ceremony at the London Palladium on Monday evening. Conspicuous by their absence from the shortlist are players like Australia forward Sam Kerr, who became the all-time leading scorer in the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States, and England striker Jodie Taylor, who was top scorer at Euro 2017.

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