In its attempt to develop the game of basketball in Nigeria, about 250 students were involved in the basketball clinic organised by Kwese Free Sports.
It was a gathering of who is who as far as basketball is concerned, from former NBA players, Jerome Williams, and Olumide Oyedeji to the Senior Manager, Basketball Operations, NBA, Frank Traore.
“We are impressed with the turnouts of the students that came for the basketball clinic. We are happy to provide this platform for the over 200 students that participated in the clinic. We had over 500 applications but we were able to accommodate about 250 students.
“We reached out to a lot of basketball academies and schools in Lagos and a lot of them had knowledge about the game. We decided to engage those of them who are already grounded in the game. This is one step closer to their dream,” a delighted General Manager, Kwese Free TV, Chichi Nwoko said.
Speaking further, he said, “We are a sports channel and we decided to explore our partnership with the NBA to see what we can bring to the market to provide premium sports contents. This particular basketball clinic is to marry what we do on our international platform, we bring in those format and we try to see how we can also engage the kids. Not just showing the NBA to them, we want to give them the opportunity and experience to relate with what they watch and that was why we brought a former NBA star Jerome and other NBA executive here to Lagos.”
Nwoko said Kwese Free Sport was the free channel operating 24 hours every day in Lagos and on UHF 32.
“That means that you can turn on local sport station in essence. We carry premium content and we have the NBA, Premier League matches every Saturday and we will be broadcasting the 2018 World Cup. We have the right too,” he said.
Continuing he said, “At Kwese TV, we are proud of our community and that is why we are giving back to our immediate society. We are Nigeria but we are also in 24 key markets because we are the largest pan-African pay tv that broadcast for free. In the next few years, we would be all over Africa.”
Former NBA play, Olumide Oyedeji, lauded as a great initiative Kwese Free Sports’ development of basketball in Nigeria.
“I’m glad to be part of the programme and I’m proud to be a member of the NBA family. With Kwese Sports, basketball is going to develop in Nigeria and that will give the game more popularity in the country.
Senior Manager, Basketball Operations, NBA, Frank Traore, expressed his excitement to be at the basketball clinic which he described as a great initiative in sport, just as he said they are looking forward to having a direct occasion to draw the game of basketball in Africa and particularly in Nigeria.
“These kids are playing passionately and they are very hungry for the game. We can see that these kids need more of this. For sure, with hard work and dedication we can excel.
“The NBA league season will start on October 17 and this is the perfect time to start rolling and going closer to it. I am very glad that Jerome took time out of his schedule to join us and also work with the kids. He bonded all and he could do this for five hours. We are grateful to Jerome and Kwese TV for helping the kids to appreciate basketball the more,” he said.
Women’s African Nations Volleyball: Tunisia to face Nigeria in opener
Tunisia was drawn in Group B along with Kenya, DR Congo, Senegal and Nigeria at the 2017 Women’s African Nations Volleyball Championship set for October 7-15 in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Group A includes Cameroon, Algeria, Botswana and Egypt.
The national team will face Nigeria in the opener Sunday before taking on Senegal on Monday, Kenya on Tuesday and DR Congo on Wednesday.
The two finalists will book their tickets for the 2018 World Women’s Volleyball Championship in Japan.
