Rivers Hoopers to face Tunisian, Rwandan clubs in BAL group stage

Robinson Opong

Nigeria's representatives at the maiden edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Rivers Hoopers, have been drawn in Group A. The Basketball Africa League made this known in an official announcement via its social media handle @thebal on Sunday. Hoopers will face Patriots of Rwanda, Gendarmerie Nationale Basketball Club (GNBC) of Madagascar, and U.S. Monastir of Tunisia. BAL divided the 12 participating teams into three groups of four which will feature an 18-game group phase with a total of 26 games. During the group phase, each team will face the three others once. The top eight teams from the group phase will qualify for the playoffs, which will be single elimination in all three rounds. In their bid for a respectable show in this maiden Championship, Rivers Hoopers have beefed up their squad with some quality signings. They include the American duo Chris Daniels (205-C-84, college: TAMUCC, agency: Shark Sports Management) and Taren Sullivan (198-F-95, college: Findlay, OH) as well as Ugandan International Robinson Opong (190-G/F-89, college: Rogers St.) who was recruited as a replacement for former NBA champions Festus Ezeli who got injured after agreeing to a short term deal with the 'KingsMen' Rivers Hoopers, three-time league Champions have been training in Lagos for some days and will depart Nigeria for the Basketball Africa League in Kigali, Rwanda on Monday via the Ethiopian Airlines at 1.40 p.m.
Courtesy of: premiumtimesng.com

Tags : ROBINSON OPONG, RIVERS ROYAL HOOPERS, NIGERIAN BASKETBALL