- FIBA Africa invites two Nigerian officials
By Joe Apu
The camp of the Nigeria women’s national basketball team received a major boost as WNBA Dallas Wings’ Evelyn Akhator is expected to hit camp today.
Akhator, will join 13 other players under the watchful eyes of coach Sam Vincent, ahead of the AfroBasket Women 2017 holding in Bamako, Mali from August 18-27.
The US -based player, who was the No. 3 overall pick in May’s WNBA draft, will compete for a place in the 12-man squad that departs Nigeria on August 16.
The Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF led by Musa Kida announced the 6’3” forward in the list of 29 players late July and she could miss as many as four games with Dallas while playing in Mali before returning to her team to finish the season with the Wings.
Meanwhile, FIBA Africa had invited two Nigerian technical officials to officiate in the AfroBasket Women 2017.
The duo are Ms. Adeola Oboro Evbwonwan, FIBA Certified Technical Commissioner who will serve in that capacity at the Tournament and Mr. Olusegun Adekambi, who will serve as Nigeria’s FIBA accompanying referee.
While wishing the duo a successful outing at the tournament, the NBBF hereby expressed satisfaction at the development which augurs well for Nigerian Basketball. It is observed that it had been a rarity in the past for a Technical Commissioner and Referee from Nigeria to be invited to an African Tournament at the same time, and this development therefore an indication of the confidence FIBA beginning to have on Nigerian basketball.
Ms Adeola Oboro Evbwonwan serves under the auspices of Edo State Basketball Association while Mr. Olusegun Adekanbi is under the Lagos State Basketball Association.