The buzz inside BK Arena was alive over the weekend since the Nile Conference of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Season 5 started on Saturday, May 7. Two automatic playoffs slots are up for grabs in Kigali with four teams—APR, Al Ahli SC, Made By Basketball (MBB) and Nairobi City Thunder (NCT—all leaving it on the flour, pushing for a qualification to the BAL playoffs and finals in Pretoria, South Africa, in June. ALSO READ: BAL 2025: Diarra stars as APR crush debutants Nairobi City Thunder Home side APR and Libyan champions Al Ahli SC are the only unbeaten teams so far in the past two conference games, while NCT and MBB will be chasing their first win in Kigali when they square off on Tuesday, May 20. The attendance for the Nile Conference games has been impressive over the past two days as the event continues to attract thousands of basketball enthusiasts including celebrities and the First Family among many others. And it has become a common thing that basketball and entertainment go hand in hand and the likes of Ghanaian star King Promise and Rwanda's very own Ariel Wayz put up powerful performances that left the crowd entertained. ALSO READ: BAL: APR sweat over Diarra injury The New Times’ photographer Olivier Mugwiza has captured Day 1 and 2 of the Nile Conference through his lenses.
