Former British athletics star Kriss Akabusi has been announced as a patron for the British Masters Basketball Association.
Akabusi was awarded the MBE in 1992 by Her Majesty the Queen in her Birthday Honours List due to his services in athletics.
“I first played basketball at school in 1970 and had an immediate affinity with the speed and dexterity of the sport,” Kriss said. “I was not the best shooter but always the most enthusiastic rebounder and defender. I continued this love affair the game as a young soldier until I turned twenty one when my athletic career began to take priority over any other sport.”
Akabusi returned briefly to basketball to play for the Worthing Bears after his athetics career which saw him win medals at the Olympics, World and European championships.
BMBA Chairman Bill McInnes declared that, “as an organisation that is responding to the desire of many who wish to continue playing basketball, in spite of not being as young as they used to be, the prospect of attracting someone with the infectious energy and love of sport that Kriss has, is a great fit.”
