Wheelchair Basketball is growing in Nigeria

Engineer Babatunde Babalola deep love for the growth of the game of basketball in Nigeria lately cannot be under estimated with the sponsorship of two competitions in quick succession by his company – First Deepwater Discovery Limited and for identifying with the physically challenged players.

In a brief chat with journalists in Lagos the First Deepwater Discovery boss says Wheelchair basketball is gaining grounds in Nigeria.

The Ekiti State-born oil magnate believed the nations U22 national who are currently in camp ahead the Africa Wheelchair Basketball Championship billed for Johannesburg, South Africa from September 30 through October 5 will not disappoint the nation.

Babalola who is not expecting the team coached by National Institute for Sports, NIS senior lecturer, O’Brien Adoki to make appreciable impact in the sport dominated by South African. Excerpt:

On the team preparation?

I think the two weeks they have to prepare for the Africa Championship in all honesty is not enough but the players and their handlers knows what is ahead of them to put the little time they have to good use.

Expectation from the team?

As a lover of the game and sponsor of the team, I am not expecting them to win judging by the pedigree of the South Africans who have dominated Wheelchair basketball for a long time in Africa, don’t forget that the South Africans have a Wheelchair basketball league and are a force to reckon with in the game at the world stage but I am confident that our team would not disappoint at the end.

Level of the game in Nigeria?

The enthusiasm displayed by the players at the recent open camp screening exercise conducted in Lagos is a pointer that the Wheelchair basketball has a future in Nigeria and with the little space of time the game came into existence in the country I will say the game is growing and can only be supported to develop further against the back drop that these physically challenge individuals are making serious effort to useful to the society.