Air Warriors won the 2019 women Basketball league

By Amaechi Agbo

Two Nigerian women club representatives, Air Warriors and MFM Queens of Lagos will not be participating in the FIBA Zone 3 Women Club championship elimination series having been handed automatic tickets to the 2019 FIBA Africa Club championship to be played in December.

The Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF disclosed this in series of tweets on Monday.

According to a memo from the FIBA Africa Zone 3 office headed by Col. Sam Ahmedu (rtd), the 2019 Zenith Bank Women Basketball League winners, Air Warriors of Abuja and MFM Queens alongside Energie Club of Cotonou have qualified for the final round.

Air Warriors who made their debut in the women’s league were crowned the 2019 Zenith Bank Women Basketball League Champions after a hard earned 55-53 points victory against MFM Queens in the final.

The Abuja based side became the first women’s club to win the league in its first year while also setting an enviable record of being the first Savannah Conference side to win the league which had been largely dominated by First Bank of Lagos with 9 titles.

MFM on their part improved on their 2018 season when they finished fourth under coach Aderemi Adewunmi to win their first ever silver medal

FIBA Africa will decide the final host of the competition between Angola and Madagascar to host the apex women’s club championship in Africa

It means that no Nigerian club side (men and women) will be participating in the elimination series starting on Monday, 28th of October in Cotonou, Benin Republic with Nigeria already given an automatic slot to the 2020