From football to basketball, Nkechi Akashili has been one of the stars of the on-going Zenith Bank Women Super Four Championship at the National Stadium, Lagos.
Female basketballer, Nkechi Akashili would have ended up lacing the boots for a top football club in the country or somewhere else in Europe, but for her love for the dunking game.
Nkechi’s father had wanted the player currently making waves at the ongoing Zenith Bank Women Basketball League to play soccer but her passion for basketball did not allow her.
Beautiful Nkechi started going to basketball courts by following her elder sister, Sunnychi Akashili, who played the game years back in the ancient city of Warri.
“I started playing the game in 2009 at Warri at the Secondary School level, but did not get the approval of my father, who wanted me to be a footballer.
“But when we won the All Nigeria Secondary Schools Milo title and came back home with cartons of Milo drinks and the ticket to represent the country at the World Secondary Schools Championship in Argentina, my father changed his mind and started supporting me,” she revealed.
On her return from South America, Akashili moved to Asaba to join the Delta State basketball team, Delta Force.She hardly played two seasons at Delta Force before the prying eyes of scouts from First Deepwater took her to Lagos.
She won the Zenith Bank’s Most Valuable Player with Deepwater at her first outing before First Bank went for her signature.The University of Lagos graduate says she is not in a hurry to be a mother.
Nkechi said she would be looking forward to win her sixth Zenith Bank Women basketball league title this weekend in Lagos.“I have won it five times in the past and will be going for the sixth this weekend,” Nkechi, who is aspiring to go abroad soon to continue with her exploits in the game said.
Meanwhile, the ongoing final phase of the 2017 Zenith Basketball League enters crucial stage today as finalists are expected to emerge after the semifinal matches this evening.
