Hoop Dreams, Showtyme Angels Clinch Titles at 4th Ibadan Basketball Championship.
By Oluwaseyi Oduneye-Ogunwomoju
The fourth edition of the Ibadan Basketball Championships came to a thrilling conclusion, with Hoop Dreams and Showtyme Angels claiming top honors in the male and female categories, respectively.
In the male category, Hoop Dreams defeated Rising Stars 48-40, while the University of Ibadan secured third place with an 84-76 victory over Showtyme Hoopers.
In the female category, Showtyme Angels edged out Rising Stars 22-16.
Hoop Dreams’ coach, Opeyemi Adekunle, praised his team’s efforts, saying, “Defending and winning a title is not an easy task.
“We’ve been training and preparing ahead of this competition for a while as an organised team,”he said.
On officiating, Adekunle said that referees are human and not totally perfect, hence prone and bound to make errors.
“To me, the officiating was okay, and it’s normal for players to show some emotions when referees make some calls,”he said.
The winning teams received cash prizes, with Hoop Dreams taking home N250,000, Rising Stars receiving N150,000, and the University of Ibadan getting N100,000 in the male category.
Showtyme Angels received N200,000, while Rising Stars got N150,000 in the female category.
The championships was sponsored by some retired Oyo state basketballers based in the diaspora.
Rashidat Sadiq, an Olympian and one of the sponsors, said that the competition is an annual event to encourage players and help in improving their game.
Sadiq said that the aim is to provide an avenue for players to be the best version of themselves.
“Competitions like this help basketballers get better.
“What we look forward to achieve with this annual competition is giving hope and some level of competitiveness among the teams to enable them measure their improvements.
“It is also to encourage them to intensify efforts into their training,”she said.
