Basketball in Africa

By Namatama Njekwa
Lusaka

ZAMBIA Basketball Association (ZBA) general secretary Mwembe Kaona has commended the Under 20 Basketball boy's team for putting up a good performance at the just ended Zone six SADC games in Windhoek Namibia.

And Kaona said the girls basketball team's bad performance is a lesson to the association. In an interview, Kaona said the boys' performance during Zone six SADC games was encouraging.

"We are very pleased with the performance of Under 20 basketball team. They have given us hope for the future engagements," he said.

Kaona said the boys' team was advantaged because of the league experience.

"Boys like Given Kalipinde plays for NAPSA Hurricanes, Mate Lisimba from Barclays Magic and Francis Lungu for LCC Looters who had an average of one and half season experience in the ZBA league," he said.

He said because of the performance exhibited by the junior teams, the association's vision to qualify for their first ever appearance at the All Africa games 2007 and senior Africa Cup of Nations 2009 was a sure reality.And Kaona said the association was not disappointed with the girls' team because of the factors that worked against them like putting the team late.

"The lesson for us therefore is that for next years games, early preparations are a must and so we will start our selection this year so that we widen our options," he explained. Kaona said most of the girls who were taking part in the SADC games were still learning the basics.

He added that the association should have cast the nets wider because their options were limited to a few teams and that time was not with them.