First Bank, Deepwater renew rivalry at the quarterfinals in Benin

After a day of rest from the basketball courts of the ongoing FIBA Africa Champions Club for women, in Benin, the ten participating clubs resume for the next stage of the tournament with First Bank and First Deepwater, both of Nigeria, battling one other for a semi final slot at the Gymnase IRSP in Ouidah today.

The two clubs, renowned for their basketball rivalry, set up the quarterfinal encounter as a result of their mixed fortunes in the ten-day championship. With five points from three loses and one win, the Lateef Erinfolami-coached Deepwater made it into the last eight at the expense of Sporting of Egypt, which gathered the same number of points, but Deepwater with a higher point advantage carried the day.

Unlike their compatriots, with whom they have been at loggerheads winning their three encounters this year, First Bank displayed the ruthlessness which won them the Nigeria basketball title as the Adewunmi Aderemi-tutored side demolished KPA of Kenya 84-29 in their final group match to enter the next stage with a clean slate.

Earlier, the Nigerian champions who got into the tournament via a wildcard slot after they had failed to qualify from the Zone III qualifiers held in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire some weeks ago, slammed to a 79-35 point victory over host Energie basketball club; trashed ABC of Cote d Ivoire 57-56 point and edged Mozambique's A'politechnica 74-54.

Other Matches In other quarter-final matches

A'politecnica will take on Interclube of Angola; KPA of Kenya play Desportivo of Mozambique while CSA and ABC, both of Cote d' Ivoire tries to eliminate each other to the 5-8 classification stage.

Both KPA and Energie, who got pushed out of the group stage, will try each other for size at the 9-10 classification stage.

2010 World Club Draws

Meanwhile, the draws for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women, will be held at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary on Tuesday, 24th November 2009.

This event will see the 16 teams:Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Japan, Korea, Mali, Russia, Senegal, Spain and the USA, which will duel in the competition from 23rd September and 3rd October 2010 drawn into four groups of four for the First Round.

A number of players, coaches and national federation representatives, as well as FIBA and Local Organizing Committee officials, representatives from the host cities and several former Czechoslovakia World Championship medal winners are expected at the event.