2020 Sun Newspaper Sports Personality of the Year recipient, Engr Musa Kida is hopeful of a better 2021 as basketball stakeholders continue to savour the new found status of its teams on the global scene.
Amid its achievements in 2020, the Nigeria Basketball Federation President said 2020 is a year that many will hope to wish away due to the global lockdown occasioned by covid-19 pandemic.
Despite D’Tigress booking its 2020 Olympics ticket and the conclusion of the Total Division One League earlier in the year before the Covid-19 global pandemic, Kida opined that the federation could have achieved more.
“By now, we should have concluded the Olympics in Tokyo and maybe return as a medalist in the Men and Women categories, but because of the pandemic, there was a postponement,” Kida told the team’s media in report made available to www.dasportstainment247.com.
He added: “On the local scene, the Zenith Women League, Total Men Divisions One and Two Leagues as well as the President Cups all suffered postponements which would have added to some of our programs for the year under review.”
Kida expressed optimism that the global sports industry can come to terms with the new normal and come up with a safe environment where sports will thrive once again.
He thanked the management and staff of The Sun Newspaper for deeming him worthy of such recognition for the second time since coming on board in 2017.
“On behalf of players, coaches, technical officials, board members of the NBBF and all basketball stakeholders, I wish to thank The Sun for this award which means a lot to me. It is a validation of the good works we have been doing as a federation.
“This will spur us to do more on the home front and the international scene in line with our promises when we came on board”, Kida added.
Following the recent FIBA ranking, D’Tigers maintained its status as the best team in Africa while moving up a place to 22nd spot on the global ranking after a solid start to its 2021 Afrobasket qualification.
