The sole sponsor of the annual Women Basketball League, Zenith Bank has expressed delight over the growth of the game in the past 15 years of the outfit’s sponsorship.
Group Managing Director, Ebenezer Onyeagwu on Tuesday told newsmen in Lagos that the bank was proud to be in partnership with the Nigeria Basketball Federation to develop the game in the country.
He noted that because Zenith Bank was involved in the female league, the country’s women had posted better results than the men over the years in continental and global tournaments.
“The ladies are leading because, our investment has really shown over the years. We played in the quarterfinals of the World Cup last year, in Spain and D’Tigress were also the first African team to win a match at the World Cup.
“We are optimistic that things will get even better in the years ahead because, after the exploits in Africa, we expect our ladies to take the world by storm. It is possible.”
The league will involve 27 teams this year and 218 matches would be played in the league that will have two conferences -Savannah and Atlantic. In the first round alone, 144 matches would be played with the top four in each divisions going into the second stage.
“The new format is going to make the league interesting, with more participation and we hope those in charge of national teams will take advantage of this to get fresh talents for the national team.