The Technical Committee of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) yesterday presented Ilorin and Asaba as the two cities bidding for the hosting rights of the 2nd phase of the 2015 Zenith Bank Women Basketball League.

Ilorin hosted the last two editions and wishes to host the event for the third straight year but faces strong opposition from Asaba as one of the strongholds of female basketball in Nigeria.

Asaba, which annually hosted the 2nd phase in the early years of the Zenith League also wishes to retrieve the rights, having missed out in the last two editions.

The board will, however, announce the host after the first phase is over as the organisers said the board would consider the cities that fulfill the criteria set by the technical committee.

Meanwhile, the NBBF has penalized managements of DStv Men’s Premier League teams Oluyole Warriors of Ibadan and Kada Stars of Kaduna for owing their players sign-on fees and salaries since last season.

The Civil Defenders (Civil Defence team) in the lower league were also due for the NBBF hammer after bringing the game into disrepute by deliberately failing to honour their match against Hoop ‘n’ Read in the National Div-1 championship in November.