21 December 2006
UGANDA : Abe Linc a Disappointment
N its 14th edition, everyone expected the Abraham Lincoln International Basketball tournament that took place December 8-10 to be the most exciting and organised. Save for the few upsets especially those against Kenyan teams, the tourney left a lot to be desired.
Late coming
Foreign teams reported late while local teams confirmed participation behind schedule.
Unlike in other editions where many junior and some few senior games were played on day one, this time round only three games were played on the opening day.
Giants missing
Gone are the days when the event used to draw teams from Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, DR Congo, among others.
This time round it was a Kenya-Uganda affair. Thank God, the defending champions Kenya's United States International University (USIU) took part. The team's head coach George Mayenga however, told Daily Monitor that if organisers Rhino Athletics Club do not style up, next year's tourney could attract only local teams.
SHAMBOLIC: USIU's Abel Nso shields the ball against Knight Riders in the Abe Linc tournament at YMCA Wandegeya. The tournament was organised very shoddily. Photo by Eddie Chicco
"This is the worst Abe Linc we have ever participated in. I can't imagine semis and finals being played on a running time basis," said Mayenga.
ISUI, who came in as defending champions lost in the semis to losing finalists Sadolin Power.
Other teams that represented Kenya are ICC, Barclays (men), Lake Side and Harleys (women).
Sprite Storms, Stomers, KCB Lions, Warriors (Kenya), Rwanda's APR and Uganda's giant sides including Falcons, Marines, Lady Bucks, KCC Leopards all skipped the tournament.
On court
Kenyan sides had a nightmare with USIU and Harleys (women) losing at the semi-final stage. Losing finalists Nabumali Old Girls beat Harleys.
The final clash between Nabumali and Makerere Sparks, which the latter won 27-25, was interesting, only that it was played in running time.
Olivia Mulwana's last two free throws with just 15 seconds left decided the game. Warriors were outstanding and thwarted Power's late comeback, winning 51-48. Hosts Rhino didn't make semis while their female counterparts Amazon also fell short despite upsetting A-1 Challenge in preliminaries.
Power blackout
Earlier in the day fans at YMCA Wandegeya had endured a two-hour action-less spell and no one came out to explain what the problem was.
Later the juniors' final between Crane High School and Tornadoes was interrupted twice while the women had to take a long break due to power failure. YMCA has an installed automatic generator but the organisers only remembered to connect the floodlights shortly after power had gone off-and this took about an hour.
Screening the Chelsea-Arsenal match at the venue was a good innovation but power failure ensured that fans watched only 38 minutes of first half-and they never stopped cursing.
Local clubs blamed
"Ugandan teams always want to win tournaments and that's why they end up fielding good players from other clubs, something unheard of in Kenya and elsewhere. This however contravenes FIBA rules bearing in mind that this is an international tournament," fumed Mayenga.
Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA) technical committee chairman Yunus Nkutu also noted they informed organisers last year that such is illegal and totally unacceptable and must change.
Players and clubs at large seem to participate in the tournament for fun and Mayenga believes that it's the reason foreign clubs are slowly but surely shunning it.
The awards
Deservedly Mulwana was voted the ladies MVP but many argued Ronnie Kasewu should have beaten Stephen Okias to the men's accolade.
There were no awards for top scorers and besides the prize giving ceremony took place past midnight when most people had left and the ones present were exhausted and dosing-off.
Lack of sponsors made this year's tournament one of the dullest in the recent past but good planning could have made it better.
Late coming
Foreign teams reported late while local teams confirmed participation behind schedule.
Unlike in other editions where many junior and some few senior games were played on day one, this time round only three games were played on the opening day.
Giants missing
Gone are the days when the event used to draw teams from Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, DR Congo, among others.
This time round it was a Kenya-Uganda affair. Thank God, the defending champions Kenya's United States International University (USIU) took part. The team's head coach George Mayenga however, told Daily Monitor that if organisers Rhino Athletics Club do not style up, next year's tourney could attract only local teams.
SHAMBOLIC: USIU's Abel Nso shields the ball against Knight Riders in the Abe Linc tournament at YMCA Wandegeya. The tournament was organised very shoddily. Photo by Eddie Chicco
"This is the worst Abe Linc we have ever participated in. I can't imagine semis and finals being played on a running time basis," said Mayenga.
ISUI, who came in as defending champions lost in the semis to losing finalists Sadolin Power.
Other teams that represented Kenya are ICC, Barclays (men), Lake Side and Harleys (women).
Sprite Storms, Stomers, KCB Lions, Warriors (Kenya), Rwanda's APR and Uganda's giant sides including Falcons, Marines, Lady Bucks, KCC Leopards all skipped the tournament.
On court
Kenyan sides had a nightmare with USIU and Harleys (women) losing at the semi-final stage. Losing finalists Nabumali Old Girls beat Harleys.
The final clash between Nabumali and Makerere Sparks, which the latter won 27-25, was interesting, only that it was played in running time.
Olivia Mulwana's last two free throws with just 15 seconds left decided the game. Warriors were outstanding and thwarted Power's late comeback, winning 51-48. Hosts Rhino didn't make semis while their female counterparts Amazon also fell short despite upsetting A-1 Challenge in preliminaries.
Power blackout
Earlier in the day fans at YMCA Wandegeya had endured a two-hour action-less spell and no one came out to explain what the problem was.
Later the juniors' final between Crane High School and Tornadoes was interrupted twice while the women had to take a long break due to power failure. YMCA has an installed automatic generator but the organisers only remembered to connect the floodlights shortly after power had gone off-and this took about an hour.
Screening the Chelsea-Arsenal match at the venue was a good innovation but power failure ensured that fans watched only 38 minutes of first half-and they never stopped cursing.
Local clubs blamed
"Ugandan teams always want to win tournaments and that's why they end up fielding good players from other clubs, something unheard of in Kenya and elsewhere. This however contravenes FIBA rules bearing in mind that this is an international tournament," fumed Mayenga.
Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA) technical committee chairman Yunus Nkutu also noted they informed organisers last year that such is illegal and totally unacceptable and must change.
Players and clubs at large seem to participate in the tournament for fun and Mayenga believes that it's the reason foreign clubs are slowly but surely shunning it.
The awards
Deservedly Mulwana was voted the ladies MVP but many argued Ronnie Kasewu should have beaten Stephen Okias to the men's accolade.
There were no awards for top scorers and besides the prize giving ceremony took place past midnight when most people had left and the ones present were exhausted and dosing-off.
Lack of sponsors made this year's tournament one of the dullest in the recent past but good planning could have made it better.
# posted by afrbk : 11:37
