BY BADMUS BISOLA MORENIKE
The Palms Hoops Basketball Festival ended last Sunday in a grand style with players, officials, guests and basketball enthusiasts who thronged the Palms Mall, Lekki, the venue of the 3-day event thoroughly excited.
The event, which was the idea of The Palms Marketing Manager, Tunde Muyibi, brought together budding basketball players to compete for honours in 3v3 basketball matches with the support of the Nigeria Basketball Federation.
Speaking during the fun-filled event, Muyibi, a former High School and University basketball star disclosed that the essence of the basketball showpiece is to help grow the interests of the youths in the game, particularly, the 3v3 aspect of the game.
The Kingsmen comprising Adebayo Abimbola Oduleye, Semoore Jide Oluwafemi, Railway DavidEdward and Kareem defeated La Bomba in the fiercely contested final of the 3×3 to win the N1 million grand prize.
The second, third and fourth-placed teams were rewarded N250,000, N150,000 and N100,000 respectively. Muyibi went ahead to reveal plans to make the event a regular feature in the annual calendar of basketball in Nigeria.
While praising sponsors of this year’s event including AFA Sports, Budweiser, Bamboo Nigeria, Webber Engineering and The Palms, he admonished well-placed individuals and corporate bodies to partner with his outfit, to make subsequent events better and bigger.