Plateau women basketball team, Plateau Rock yesterday produced the first astonishing result in the ongoing 10th Zenith Bank national women basketball league with 35-32 defeat of  Nigeria Customs Service basketball team, who are among pre-tournament favourites.

The Customs girls started the game brightly and were in full control up to the third quarter of the encounter. But the Plateau girls capitalised on their physical strength and their give-up spirit got themselves back into the game and turned the table to their favour.

The first phase of the League which began on Friday, at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Abuja National Stadium will climax on Sunday, March 30. Attention will be shifted to Ilorin, Kwara in two weeks’ time for the second phase.

Meanwhile, Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has assured clubs that it would work with them to ensure that players got medical insurance from the next season.

Tijani Umar, President of the federation, gave the assurance at a news conference in Abuja to kickstart the 2014 Zenith Bank National Women Basketball League.  “The federation has agreed that it needs to give insurance cover to our players, that we need to safeguard their careers, and we need to defend their health and get them fit every time.

“From next year and for the Zenith Bank and DSTV Leagues, the federation is going to work with the clubs to find an insurer. We need to make sure that even if it is medical insurance that we can get, it will take the weight of the financial cost off the clubs,” he said.