Basketball - Cobras and Marlins play for Nathan |20 March 2018

Premium Cobras and Bel Ombre Marlins basketball teams were involved in a charity exhibition match to raise funds for Nathan Laporte, a four-year-old boy suffering from cystic fibrosis with pulmonary manifestation.

The match was played on Saturday afternoon at the Palais des Sports.

The response from the public was great and more than R9,000 was raised through the sale of tickets for the match which was won on an 86-74 score by Premium Cobras. The proceeds will go towards Nathan’s medical and personal needs.

It was with great appreciation that the father of Nathan, Jean-Eve Laporte and his mother Diana Bouchereau, accepted the proceeds from captains Alao Solomon (Premium Cobras) and Tony Barbé (Bel Ombre Marlins).

Ms Bouchereau thanked the two teams for initiating the charity match for Nathan and said: “I can assure you that Nathan appreciates everything that is given to him, spiritually, financially etc. And, I would like to thank you all for the very good gesture that you have made today and the public also for their contribution by attending the match. A very big thank you to you all.”

Premium Cobras club president Roy Collie said he was approached by a member of Nathan’s family to organise the charity match and he added that all went well as in just one week, the team’s management and the players agreed to play. 2017 second division champions Bel Ombre Marlins were chosen by the Premium Cobras management as the opposing team.

“As you know, the basketball league has not started yet, so the players who boast a lot of energy wanted to get to play and we invited Bel Ombre Marlins just to get them to have a feel of first division basketball. They have also recruited some good players and we thought the spectators would be thrilled to see them in action. It was a very good match and I think both teams are very proud of what they did today (Saturday) for Nathan,” said Mr Collie.

The two teams displayed very good basketball during the match though Premium Cobras led from start to finish. It was an avant-goût for the spectators who had gathered at the Palais des sports on Saturday of what they can expect from basketball for the coming season.

Promoted to the first division this season, Bel Ombre Marlins have made some recruitment to boost the team. Among the players who have joined them include Rodney Lozé and Barry Barron from PLS Hawks, Robert Leon and Ricky Sicobo from MBU Boyz and Nigerians James Umeadi and Usman Aliyu from Beau Vallon Heat. The team are under the guidance of new coach Michel Malbrook who was formerly with Baya.

Premium Cobras, on the other hand, also displayed their new arrivals ‒ Ghanaian Sena and Stephen Malbrook from Baya ‒ and they teamed up with captain Alao Solomon, Amadou Sylla, Giovanni Laval, Malagasy Danz and others as they dominated and won the match.

P. J.