Gombe Bulls head coach, Abdulrahman Mohammed is relishing his team’s first ever qualification to the FIBA Africa Club Championship in Tunisia.
Bulls qualified after winning three of their four games at the just concluded FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers in Lagos recording their only loss to the eventual champions, Kano Pillars.
Abudulrahman believes his team has overachieved after they picked one of the slots to the continental tournament.
“It’s wonderful, great experience and overwhelming. We celebrated our first win against Mark Mentors and it was my biggest achievement with Gombe Bulls and getting one of the slots is an icing on the cake,” he said.
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“Gombe bulls have always been a progressive programme from the word go. This is our fourth year in the league and we are trying to catch up with Kano Pillars, Rivers Hoopers who have been at this tournament and played at this stage in the past. Everything is just a progression and this is just a result of what we have been putting in the past four years and every year we play, we do a lot of adjustments and today we are here.”
Clubs are allowed to beef up their squad ahead of the continental showpiece but the former Nigeria international wants to stick with the players who qualified the team for the Club Championship in December.
“I really doubt it if I’ll bring in any player. I have confidence in these players and I am going to Tunisia with them. Just like in Angola, whenever they go for qualification, qualify for a tournament, they stick with the same team to gain more experience and we will do same and hopefully we will keep them for next season and by so doing they have gained more experience.”
Abdulrahman hopes they can get the needed support from the Gombe State Government.
“We have to be sure we will get support from our sport loving Governor. It’s not just going to be a child’s play in Tunisia. We will meet tougher teams there and hopefully we will prepare well for the challenge.
