Nigeria’s women basketball growth thrills bank

Group managing Director of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, on Tuesday told newsmen in Lagos that the bank was proud to be in partnership with the Nigeria basketball Federation to develop the game in the country.

He noted that because Zenith Bank was involved in the female league, the country’s women have posted better results than the men over the years in continental and global tournaments.

“The ladies are leading because our investment has really shown over the years. We played in the quarterfinal of the World Cup last year in Spain and The Tigress was also the first African team to win a match at the World Cup.

“We are optimistic that things will get even better in the years ahead because, after the exploits in Africa, we expect our ladies to take the world by storm. It is possible.”

The Zenith Women basketball League will involve 27 teams this year and a total of 218 matches will be played in the league that will have two conferences -Savannah and Atlantic. In the first round alone, 144 matches will be played with the top four in each divisions going into the second stage.

“The new format will make the league interesting with more participation and we hope those in charge of national teams will take advantage of this to get fresh talents for the national team.

“On our part, our commitment to the game remains solid with the plan to make the competition better and better every year,” Onyeagwu added.

Zenith Bank is rolling out N70 million as total sponsorship money for the competition.