The 5th edition of the RT. Honourable Victor Ochei International Wheelchair Basketball Tournament took place in Nigeria last month between Monday 4th October to Saturday 8th October.
Named after former speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly Nigeria, Retired Honourable Victor Ochei, who has sponsored the international tournament from the very beginning, the Championships took place in the Sir Molade Okoya Sports Hall in Teslim, Lagos.
The event saw five women’s teams from across different states in Nigeria and one from Ghana competed in a 3×3 competition played over half court, the state teams were Delta, Ed, Lagos, Kwara and Imo. Whilst seven male teams represen
ted Nigerian states Delta, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Kwara, Imo, Oyo again plus a national team from Ghana.
An enthusiastic audience followed a number of exciting games. In the women’s competition Delta, Imo, Ghana and Edo made it through to the semi-finals. Ghana, Kano, Oyo and Lagos asserted themselves against the other male teams to secure the men’s semi-finals spots.
The semi-final day started with a women’s game between Delta and Imo. The former defeated the latter with 11 points to 1, giving Delta a ticket to the finals and sent Imo to the third place match up. The second semi-final was more competitive with Ghana and Edo seeking the second ticket to the final, which Edo won.
The men’s competition was also highly entertaining. Kano defeated Ghana with 33 points to 10. In the men’s second semifinal Oyo won against Lagos with 53 points to 12.
The final day started with the men’s third place match between Ghana and Lagos, which was very heated, both teams played as if they were fighting for gold but Ghana came out victorious above Lagos with a final score line of 25 – 12, seeing them go home with bronze finally after four years of participating in the games.
The women’s final between two time champions Delta and contender Edo was a walk over for the reigning champions. Team Delta defeated Team Edo with ease finishing with a score line of 7 – 2, making Team Delta champions for the third consecutive time.
The much-anticipated men’s final between Oyo and Kano Pillars kept everyone in suspense and on the edge of their seats. Both teams battled hard with great offense moves and defensive tactics, which kept them close in three quarters of the game, but eventually Team Oyo pulled through in the fourth quarter with the experience and precision of international star player Lukman Ibrahim who sealed the win for the state by 6 points, 37 -31.
