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Boasting an impressive height, the 18-year-old from Ungwan Boro, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna, initially had his sights set on a completely different sport.

“I loved playing football so much that I was in a professional academy,” Danmutum tells PUNCH Sports Extra.

“I stopped one time when I went for a screening, and they were to select five players to join Arsenal’s feeder team, but we were almost a thousand players. I sat and thought to myself, What are the chances of making it in football when virtually every kid in Nigeria does the sport?”

This realisation led him to switch to tennis, but fate had other plans. At 16, Danmutum was going for a routine tennis practice when he decided to stop by the basketball court to watch his older brother play. Little did he know that this brief pit stop would spark a lifelong passion.

“I wanted to see the basketball he is playing and always disturbing us at home about. When I got to the basketball court and watched them play, I fell in love with the game,” Danmutum tells PUNCH Sports Extra.

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