New Generation Basketball (NBC) surprised by winning the first edition of the Basketball management award. The Next Generation team beat AS SONABHY 50-48 on Wednesday, June 2, 2021.
Basketball for entrepreneurship and education. This is Pascal’s vision of the Basketball and management award (BMA) led by Pascal Tchadjou, from France. This idea guided the organization of the first edition of the Basketball and management award, the final of which was held on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 on the Omnisport platform of AS SONABHY in Ouagadougou. In the final, AS SONABHY, an experienced team and several times champion of Burkina Faso faced New Generation Basketball (NGB), a young, newly created team.
The players of AS SONABHY take the lead in the first quarter and put the points in front of aNGB team struggling to find their way into the field. The first quarter is in favor of AS SONABHY who wins 22 against 11. From the second quarter, the NGB team changes its face and begins to catch up to win (28- 27) at half-time.
NGB does not let go
The awakening of AS SONABHY was expected at the resumption. But the more fiery NGB players show more fighting spirit on their opponents and win the third quarter (41-39). The fourth is fiercely contested and it is until the last second that NGB ends up winning with a point difference (46-45) on a last basket with two points two seconds from the end.
« Its a question of confidence. We were already tired with the players who are all pupils and students. Afterwards, the mind had to follow and we were able to beat our opponents to wear and tear », Explains Sylvestre Kokou, the NGB coach.
Dejected by this defeat, AS SONABHY coach Ismaël Sana believes that his players have neglected their opponent: ” Being veterans, we took the adversaries lightly. We wanted to save our players because we played this morning when our opponents are fresher and younger. Besides, we didn’t have enough training. We hoped to put our executives down and they managed to catch up with us », Confided Ismaël Sana, assistant coach of AS SONABHY.
Promoter satisfaction
The promoter of the tournament Pascal Tchadjou was delighted with the success of this first edition of this competition which aims to promote youth entrepreneurship through basketball and education. ” This is a successful edition and that teaches us more and we will do everything to improve the editions to come. This edition in a country where I have never been for everything that the president of the federation and the partners have tried to set up with what our partner has set up, OM Strasbourg, we can say that it is is a successful edition. For the final, there were a lot of emotions, there was an avalanche of emotions. We had two teams who fought to win this cup. On our side, the organizing committee liked », He indicated.
According to him, the partners of this tournament provide opportunities for players to study abroad through scholarships. The two finalists each received the sum of 807 thousand CFA francs in the form of project financing vouchers. Eight teams took part in this competition which began on May 31, 2021. A similar tournament is planned in Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Benin.
The president of the Burkinabè Basketball Federation (FEBBA) Souleymane Yaméogo dit Yamsoul and SONABHY have signed a partnership to contribute to the development of Burkinabè basketball which has been experiencing organizational difficulties for four years.
« SONABHY has always been involved in hand sports mainly in handball and basketball. We were concerned about the situation of the Burkinabè basketball federation (FEBBA) we wanted to support the new president, from our ranks to revive basketball », Explained Hilaire Kaboré, the president of SONABHY. According to Souleymane Yaméogo, this partnership will help advance this discipline in Burkina Faso
