Monrovia, Liberia – On Saturday, February 8, the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) Gymnasium hosted the 2024 National Basketball League Awards ceremony. The event was almost entirely empty due to the poor attendance.
The event’s lack of organization drew a lot of criticism. A number of basketball members, including media representatives, expressed dissatisfaction about the lack of official invites or accreditation. It’s still unknown if the Liberia Basketball Association (LBA) distribute these official invites or accreditation in advance.
Given that the current fiscal year’s allocation is only $5,000, the Liberia Basketball Association has long suffered from a lack of national government funding. Internal disputes have also hampered the organization over time, leaving it in a chaotic state. However, the present administration, led by Abraham Samukai, has been working to bring the sport back into shape and promote it since FIBA lifted its four-year worldwide ban.
Basketball is the second most popular sport in Liberia, and critics of Samukai’s administration believe that it might become much more well-known and successful with better management.
The lifting of FIBA-Africa’s suspension, the participation of Liberia’s under-18 male and female teams in international competitions for the first time since 2007, hosting the WBLA Zone 3 tournament, international referee training, youth basketball camps for players and coaches, and Mighty Barrolle’s participation in the Inter-Club Championship are just a few of the accomplishments that LBA President Abraham Samukai highlighted during the awards ceremony.
Samukai promised that with sufficient assistance, he will keep expanding on these achievements. He thanked the Liberian government for its continuous support, especially the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
“To our partners including FIBA Zone-3, sponsors, Liberia National Olympics Committe (LNOC), thanks for the support. We will always deliver once the necessary support from you is still coming”
The LBA boss also congratulated the various winners over what he called a job well done on their part. “Again, basketball has won, our purpose of coming to this gym every evening is to cheer our respective clubs to victory. The fact that we can reach this far by seeing others crowning as champions speaks volumes. This is just a courage that if you don’t win today, you can win tomorrow, he added.”
Below are some of the awards winners:
Rose Emmanuel, Most Valuable Player and Top scorer (MVP) Women’s Division, Commissioners
Fanta Jalloh, Women’s Division, Best defender, Commissioners
Korpo Sumo, Highest Assist and Playoff Most Valuable Player-Women’s Division, Commissioners
Ginny Johnson, Highest Steal, Women’s Division
Ayouba Swaray, Vision Shooters-2nd division, MVP and Highest Scorer
Emmanuel Johnson, Playoff MVP-2nd division, MVP
Samuel Wesley, Most Improve 3rd division player
Blessing Nath, Most Defensive Player, 2nd division
Orlando Boye, II, Highest Block, 2nd division
Abel Glay, Jr, Highest Steal, 2nd division
Osuman Kaiza, MVP, 3rd division
Wallace Seongbae, Playoff Most Valuable Player, 3rd
Jerror Tarrow, the Most Defensive Player, 3rd division
Zwannay Taylor, Referee of the year
Veteran, Fred JA Pratt, LBA Lifetime Achievement
award
Mighty Barrolle’s Joel Martor took home two awards, MVP Top and Highest Assist, Omar Samba and Joseph Gubizie also won an award each.
Here are cash prizes of various winners and runner-ups of every division:
3rd Division:
Winner: 100,000 LD
Runner-up: 50,000 LD
2nd Division:
Winner: 125,000 LD
Runner-up: 75,000 LD
Female Division:
Winner: 200,000 LD
Runner-up: 100,000 LD
1st Division:
Winner: 350,000 LD
Runner-up: 150,000 LD
Reported by: Sylvester Tamba
Contact: +231776687195
