B-ball champs begin defence

THE Royal Extra North Zone Basketball League’s men and women champions National Flour Mills (NFM) and Defence Force respectively will begin their National Basketball Championship campaigns at home in the St Paul’s Street Sport Complex in Port-of-Spain.

Under the direction of coach Anthony Tannis the Defence Force women have had an excellent three-year run leading up to these championships. They were first in 2001, second last year and table toppers again earlier in this year’s North Zone season. Though Tannis revealed that he has not been in training with his full team, he gave the assurance that he will have the full compliment of players when his girls square off against Malick Tigers. He confidently expects a positive result out his team’s first match in the National Cham-pionships with the strong hope that winning form will follow them throughout the season to the finals.

With 16 years as coach of the dominant NFM unit Jamal Duke has settled into a rhythm with his “Flour Boys.” Their eight League, four Knock-Out and two Nesfit Super 10 titles are evidence of their competitive edge. Duke expects their dominance to continue in the National Championships having groomed his team into a competitive unit. He plans to use the first match against Sangre Grande All Stars as a test of the extent of preparation still needed for them to emerge in the top spot at the end of the season. The NFM team was up to last night preparing for their 8 pm encounter at the St Paul’s Street Sport Facility and the word around their camp is all about a positive result at the final whistle.