Page 40 - LionKing

FOR THE LOVE OF
Basketball
By Olaoluwa Rufai
Africa is known for its immense talent pool in sports and second to football, basketball comes in as a crowd favourite on the continent. Basketball is the football of the air, characterised by intricate tech- nicalities; slam-dunks, hang time, jumpers, pivots and rebounds. The sport requires an innate agility and mobility of both the arms and legs and the African continent is bursting with a diverse number of basketball stars of different nationalities.
Let’s have a look at some of the best talents:
Ezinne Kalu
This American-born Nigerian basketball player, cur- rently plays for Rutronik Stars Keltern in Germany and the Nigerian national team. Kalu played for the Nigerian’s national team at the 2016 FIBA women’s Olympic qualifying tournament and participated at the 2017 Women’s Afrobasket.
A fierce competitor, Kalu scored game-win- ning three-pointer against Korea at the 2016 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. She also participated in the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain for the Nigerian national basketball team.
Astou Traoré
Towering at 6ft1in, the Senegalese basketball player is one of FIBA women’s Afrobasket most prolific scorers with six of the champion- ships under her belt. She is also a regular on the Senegalese women’s national basketball team.
40 | The Lion King | April - June 2019