Hillside Elite, TVCC Win Webber 3×3 Basketball Tournament
Olawale Ajimotokanin Abuja
The excitement of Webber 3×3 basketball tournament which built up in Abuja during the Yuletide, climaxed with Hillside Elite and TVCC respectively emerging the men’s and ladies’ winners of the event.
Hillside Elite, which had earlier beaten Warriors 7-3 in the semi finals, defeated NBT Academy 14-4 in the final match played at Jabi Shopping Mall to win the cash prize of N250,000,
Also TVCC, which eliminated Connect 7-5 in the semi final bagged the cash prize of N250,000 after it narrowly edged Titans Academy 6-5 in the final.
Mantis emerged the most team Entertaining Team, while Chukwuebuka Henry Nzekwe of Cliff Ballers, added to the entertainment that characterized the event by winning the Slam Dunk contest.
The inaugural tournament featured 80 teams; 60 male 20 female basketball teams, drawn from across the FCT.
The large entries in the male categories meant all participating teams were classified into six groups while the females were split into two groups,
The tournament sponsor, Mr Opeyemi Babalola , who is the MD /CEO of Webber Engineering Nigeria Ltd., said the idea behind the tournament was to engage the basketball players within and around Abuja in the 3x 3 tournament both male and female categories and to end the year in a good mood with tournament and fun-filled activities.
He noted that Webber, which was into the production of basketball equipment like hoops, the floor, the bleachers and crowd barrier was organising the tournament for the first time in the FCT.
“I am impressed with the level of the skills of the players here and they have all come out with full force to play and I believe that the best team emerged the winner in both the female and male categories,” Babalola said.
While also applauding the large turnout of players for the tournament, the former Kwara Falcons and Dodan Warriors player said the sponsorship was Webber’s way of influencing young players positively by leading by examples and showing them the right path to follow.
He added that going forward Webber will spread its reach across Nigeria by promoting basketball at the grassroots.
“We plan to do other big cities across Nigeria and definitely other locations and districts in Abuja as well. You will see us coming back. It is going to be a rotary thing and as soon as we get the required collaboration and sponsorships on board you will see us doing more of this on a weekly basis,” Babalola assured.
