Basketball in Africa

HE National Schools' Basketball Association (NASBA) has set March 1-31 as dates for the schools' qualifiers. NSABA General Secretary Kigozi Kafumbe said: "The schools will start tussling it out for slots to the National Championships for a period of one month staring March 1."

The successful school teams from the regions of Kampala, Western (Mbarara and Kabalore), Mpigi, Northern, Eastern (Jinja and Mbale) will converge at Ndejje SS for the national championships in May.

Kigozi also said that all school teams will have to take group photos starting with the qualifiers as a new rule to check on the possibility of some schools fielding non-students.

Last year's hosts Manjasi SS are accused of having fielded mercenaries, a case that is still under scrutiny by NASBA. In another development, a regulation on the number of foreign players on court will be implemented starting this year.

"The number of non-Ugandan players will be limited to two at a given time on court. This was resolved in order to give the Ugandan young talent a chance to play," Kigozi added.Some Ugandan schools had complained of the Tanzanian and Kenyan student players' dominance in many urban schools like Najja High, Center College Natete, Eagle's Nest and Kabojja SS.

Nabisunsa are the girls' defending champions after their 7th title win in Manjasi while Kibuli SS won their first ever boys' honours