It was basketball extravaganza at the Emotan College basketball court in Benin as the 6th edition of ‘Jesus A Team Player’ competition began Tuesday.
The basketball competition, which is sponsored by Italy-based Pastor Ighodaro Gideon Itua, has 14 male teams and 10 female teams from the South-South and South-West regions of Nigeria competing for laurels in the three-day event.
In a remark during the opening ceremony of the basketball competition, the chief sponsor of the competition and former captain of Edo Beads Basketball Team, Ighodaro Gideon Itua, said he and partners derive pleasure in committing their resources to assisting the downtrodden and raising youths from the streets of hopelessness to becoming champions through sports.
“This is the sixth edition of the ‘Jesus A Team Player’ basketball competition and as for players of Team Edo, I am happy to be part of those contributing to other people’s success. I want this to continue because we have succeeded in picking some kids out of the street since we started six years ago. Some of the kids are abroad now while those in Nigeria are also doing well in their trade,” he said.
“Edo youths can benefit and the state basketball coaches can also discover talents to team Edo,” he added.
In some of the games played on the opening day of the competition, Amberly Academy of Ogun State defeated Edo Beads by 26-16 points.
The first match saw Crebes of Akwa Ibom clip the wings of Highflyers of Benin by 34-30 points, while Divine Speed of Warri outsmarted Amberly Girls of Ogun by 36-19 in the female category.
