Ibadan, Ilorin come alive for Milo Conference finals

The ancient cities of Ibadan and Ilorin will be agog, as teams converge for the Western and Central conference finals of this year’s Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship.

In Ibadan , representatives from Oyo, Edo, Delta, Lagos , Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Kogi states will assemble at the Liberty Stadium for the Western conference final.

Also in Ilorin , teams from Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kaduna , Abuja , Niger , Plateau, Benue and Gombe states will jostle for honours at the Central conference final.

The spokesman Of Nigeria School Sports Federation, Kudu Biu Omar, said the screening of teams would hold today while the group matches would commence tomorrow.

Omar, said the Federation is interested in the development of the game in schools and they would do everything possible to ensure that mercenaries are not employed by teams to take part in the tournament.

Omar, said the Federation is expecting all the teams to give their best considering the standard during the regional finals in Enugu and Kano .

The regional finals in the Central and Western conferences will end on Wednesday June 23 in each venue.

To serve as deterrent to others, NSSF disqualified the Bayelsa male team from the Atlantic Conference final of this year’s Championship in Enugu for fielding ineligible players.

Meanwhile, Ebonyi, Enugu , Adamawa and Kano have secured places in the grand finale of the championship,

The teams emerged champions during the Savannah and Atlantic conferences finals to confirm their spots in the Lagos finale holding later in the year.

Adamawa’s Government Girls Secondary School defeated Zamfara’s Government Girls Day Secondary School by 18-16 points in the final of the Atlantic conference.

But efforts by Adamawa to have its male team at the grand finale were thwarted as the Yola-based Gen. Murtala Mohammed College fell to the host, Ahmadiya College of Kano by 85-79 points.

Home fans spurred the Kano boys to victory against the hard-fighting Yola team to record the biggest score line this year in that explosive encounter.