Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
Rivers Hoopers’ assistant captain, Ronald Alalibo is confident the team will do well at the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Qualifiers slated for December 3-8 in Cotonou.
The team arrived Cotonou at 2pm local time on Sunday and later lodged at the Green Horse Hotel, Cotonou.
Six teams will take part in this year’s qualifiers which include: Elan Sportif (Benin Republic), Custom Braves (Ghana), AS Police (Niger), Civil Defenders (Nigeria), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria) and Harbel Pointers (Liberia).
Alalibo told Hoopers’ media that they will do their best to win the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Qualifiers.
“In the game of basketball, everyone is expected to win a game. In as much as three teams ought to qualify, everyone wants to be in the top 3. Though fans are not expecting much from us because we have been rusty for 11 months, I know they still want to see a good result. We will do our best to win the tournament,” he said.
The KingsMen as they are fondly called last played Continental games in 2011.
“For over seven years, we have been out of the Continent with new legs, new players and new team. But a lot of our fans are still expecting us to have a good outing and we are hoping we will do well as long as we put our acts together.”
All games will be played in a round robin format with a total of 15 games to be played. Top three teams from Zone 3 will qualify for the inaugural edition of the FIBA Afro League scheduled for January 2019.
Elan Sportif defeated Customs 81-64 in the opening game on Monday while other games will be played on Tuesday. Rivers Hoopers will take on Civil Defenders at 4pm after the game between AS Police and Harbel at 2pm.
