Local basketball coach Elvis Ukpong and his team, the Cape Town Tigers, recently took home a top-three finish in one of Africa’s biggest professional basketball tournaments.
Ukpong, who is the director of sport at St David’s Marist Inanda, played an integral role as the assistant team manager and assistant coach, guiding the team to take on the continent’s best at the Basketball Africa League Nile in Cairo, Egypt.
The Basketball Africa League is one of the most viable and lucrative leagues in the world, the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) flagship professional basketball competition in Africa.
This year’s season had stops in Dakar and Cairo leading up to the playoffs and finals which will be staged in Kigali in Rwanda in May.
According to Ukpong, while the Tigers were the clear underdogs in the competition, the team remained focused and motivated to take on the challenge.
“Some of our opponents have been in existence from as early as 1911 with a lot of history and pedigree, but the Tigers are here for a reason.
“We will continue to tap into those key ingredients that have brought us this far.”
He added that the tournament exposed the team to a high level of competition that is yet to be experienced by any club in South Africa. This forced the team to adapt and learn to the pace of the game.
“As we return to SA, we now have first-hand experience and knowledge of what to expect in Kigali and we will make the necessary adjustments to be able to compete,” Ukpong concluded.
Related articles:
Learner chases and dribbles her dreams of becoming a professional basketball player
