The Nile Conference action of the Basketball African League (BAL) regular season is nine days away from hitting the ground at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo as six teams prepare to fight for the remaining four play-off slots. Egypt’s Al Ahly, Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), BAL 2022 runners-up Petro de Luanda (Angola), City Oilers (Uganda), Ferroviário da Beira (Mozambique) and Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (Guinea) are the clubs that will be battling for supremacy at the Nile Conference which will run through May 6. The top four teams from the conference will join Rwanda Energy Group (REG), AS Douanes from Senegal, ABC Fighters from Cote d’Ivoire, and Stade Malien from Mali, who qualified through the Sahara Conference, for the playoffs that will take place at BK Arena from 21-27 May. In this article, Times Sport presents you some five star players to look out for at the Nile Conference. Ater Majok – Petro de Luanda, Angola Winner of the BAL 2022 Dikembe Mutombo Defensive Player of the year award, Ater James Majok will be playing for Petro de Luanda, an Angolan side that has quite improved itself this season. The 35-year-old South Sudanese is well known at the BAL, having played in the first two editions and put up great performances that inspired Tunisia’s US Monastir to the championship in 2022. He was also part of the Tunisian side that lost the title to Zamalek in the BAL’s inaugural season in 2021. During the previous tournament of the BAL, Majok recorded 11 rebounds per game on average, 2.4 blocks and 13.6 points. Germaine Roebuck Jr – City Oilers, Uganda The American point guard is one of the players that Ugandan Champions City Oilers will be counting on during the BAL Nile Conference regular season. The 25-year-old is strong and plays with pace. Though this is a debut season for him and his counterparts, he is one of the players that can shine in the Nile Conference. In October last year, he announced his arrival at City Oilers with a superb performance in their opening game of the BAL Qualifiers at Benjamin Mkapa Indoor Stadium against Zambia’s Matero Magic as he dropped 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Born in Champaign Illinois, Roebuck Jr played basketball at Champaign central high school and later joined Calumet College - a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school. Walter Hodge – Al Ahly, Egypt Walter Hodge – the man who led Zamalek to the title of the first BAL season in 2021 – is now back to the African club basketball stage with Al Ahly. During the first season of the BAL he was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP). The Puerto Rican veteran point guard averaged 15.5 points, 5.7 assists, and 5.0 rebounds. William Perry - Ferroviário da Beira, Mozambique Perry is back with Mozambican side Ferroviário da Beira after an impressive month with Kigali Titans in January in the league. He brings vast experience garnered from clubs for which he has previously featured including Lenoir-Rhyne College in his native USA, as well as clubs in Portuguese and Spanish lower leagues. He is a good shooter after the dribble, and a decent pick-and-roll player. Souleyman Diabate – Petro de Luanda, Angola Ivorian star point guard Souleyman Diabate will be with Angola’s Petro de Luanda this season. The 37-year-old spent 15 years playing overseas with countries like France, where his pro career started, Macedonia and China. While Diabate had a solid playing career abroad, his return to Africa has yielded spectacular returns and enhanced his reputation as a winner. The 1.83m (6 ft0) floor general helped Egyptian giants Zamalek capture the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL) title two years ago. A year later, he would become the only player to win back-to-back BAL titles, this time with Tunisia’s US Monastir.
