First Bank female basketball club of Lagos captain, Nkechi Akashili has praised the league sponsors for increasing the prize money for this year’s edition of the national women championship.
Speaking against the backdrop of her team’s conquest of the Nigerian Women Basketball League once again, as they retained their title on Wednesday, the national team star said she was excited with the high level trappings on offer this year.
Sports247.ng can report that First Bank Elephant Girls got N1.5m for finishing top, while runners-up, Dolphins went home with N1.2m and third placed Customs were N1m richer for winning bronze.
This is in contrast with what applied last year, when the cash rewards were N1m, N500,000 and N250,000 in that order for the top three.
In response, Akashili said it was good move by the sponsors, Zenith Bank, despite the league being played in an abridged format.
“Zenith Bank did very well. Nobody saw that coming and we are all happy because it affected the top three teams,” Akashili said.
On her part, Dolphins’ skipper, Bintu Badmus said the increase was encouraging for all the teams and believes it will spur them all to work even harder for next season’s tournament.
“We will all work hard for the first place prize next year because this one is very good for us,” Badmus concluded.
