By Kehinde Osagiede
It is Basketball extravaganza at the Emotan College Basketball Court in Benin as the 6th edition of ‘Jesus A Team Player’ competition began today.
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 parts of Nigeria competing for laurels in the three days 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 said he and partners derive pleasure in committing their resources to assisting the down trodden 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 player 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 “,Ighodaro added.
In some of the games played as the competition began today, Amberly Academy of Ogun state defeated Edo Beads by 26-16 points.
The first match saw Crebes of Akwa Ibom clipped 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.
