Basketball in Africa

The Zone 6 All Africa Games Qualifier games exploded into action as Angola and Mozambique women served a mouth-watering clash at the City Sports Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe last night
In a tightly contested game Angola drew first blood as they went up in the first quarter against a Mozambique team that was unnerved. The Mozambicans seemed to know something all of us did not know as they came back strongly in the second half to tie the game and serve up 12 lead changes. The difference was the balance in the two teams with Angola relying on Astrida Vincente who had 12 points. Mozambique won (58-53) with balanced scoring as Anna Flavia had 9 points and 3 other players namely Valerdina Manhona, Tania Wachene and Aleia Rachide each weighed in with 8 points.

Then the Zambians came in on a mission of destruction as their men went up against regional powerhouse Mozambique in a game Zambian coach Lovemore Sikaale knew they let it slip away in the third quarter. Zambia’s Gabriel Kashimoto (14 points), who should be either playing college basketball in America or professional basketball in Europe was simply magnificent as h made big shot after big shot to keep Zambia in contention. In fairness the rest of the Zambian team contributed with Sipho Nakalowa adding 11 points for Zambia. The dice was cast when Malindi Chipili fouled out with 5 minutes to go. Mozambique showed why they used to be the sole challengers of Angola in men’s basketball in Africa with Mandlate Fernando dropping 25 points and Octavio Magolio adding 14 points to win (75-70).

Zimbabwe women thoroughly embarrassed their neighbours Zambia whipping them (93-52) with Zimbabwe captain Fadai Mabasa leading by example with 17 points. Zimbabwe’s version of Diana Taurasi the WNBA’s top scorer, Helina Nyagato dropped 16 points in a quiet game. Zambia replied through Stella Sokoni (12 points) and Doris Chisanga (11 points). Zambia were clearly out of their depth and were never given a chance to breath by a Zimbabwean team that attacked relentlessly.

In the last game of the evening Zimbabwe men overran Malawi 101-35 in a one sided game where Malawi got its first point with 20 seconds left in the first quarter. Surprise inclusion into the Zimbabwe squad Norest “Bad Dog” Shenje put his doubters to shame with a vintage performance top scoring with Tafirenyika “Magician” Soko with 18 points. Shenje is a reknown rapper with a record under the name “Bad Dog from G-town (Glen View)”. Bulawayo’s one of two inclusions Eric Banda poured in 16 points plus an alley hoop double hand Tomahawk dunk dished out by the master Allan “Tegs” Tegunde.

The games continue today with first game at 2pm featuring Zambia women against a rested South Africa. Not much is known of South African women basketball but the underdog Zambia will have home support as South Africa is disliked for their alledged arrogance.
The men’s game between Malawi and South Africa will give many an opportunity to get some lunch as this mismatch will be to painful to watch. Malawi will do well to limit South Africa to double digits as another triple digit score will do little to bolster their confidence.

Angola women look much too strong for Zimbabwe women but this is basketball and being played in Zimbabwe, anything can happen. Zimbabwe needs to get over the intimidation factor that Angola bring to the court as Mozambique showed these are not invincible like their men. Zimbabwe needs to concentrate on playing their game and not get wrapped up in trying to play Angolan style. This is a game Zimbabwe need to win if their fancy their chances against the Mozambicans. Fadzi Mabasa must rally here troops.

In the last game of the night will decide once and for all who is has bragging rights as it pits Zimbabwe men against their neighbours Zambia. On the back of a heartbreaking loss to Mozambique yesterday, Zambia is a wounded animal. Zimbabwe lacking the size that Zambia has will look to the races for this. Coach Ronald Garura goes up against his nemesis Lovemore Sikaale in a battle of wills. Zimbabwe must win.

By Roderick Takawira

This year's National Schools Basketball Association (NASBA) all stars event is set for March 10-11 at Seeta High School in Mukono.The inaugural on the schools calendar will see top ten ranking girls and boys sides battle for the glory.

Charging Rhinos point guard Diego Angemi is moving to Warriors club to improve his career. Angemi, a 5'9 guard averaged 12 points - five steals per game, as he led Rhinos to fifth place finish last year. We are looking at Diego as a player who can play all guard positions , coach Sylvan Kaboha said.

By Gloria Kyomugisha
Kampala

HEAVY rain halted the finals of the Miracle Invitational basketball tournament held at the Rubaga courts over the weekend.
The tournament's semi-finals and finals were postponed to March 3 at the same venue.Prior to the rain, Miracle B topped pool A after edging Falcons 25-24 and later bundled defending champions Sadolin Power out of the event with a 32-23 defeat. In pool B, Warriors' Stephen Okias scored 12 points and sealed a 45-40 victory over Crane High to put his team into the semi finals.

By Sande Bashaija
Rubaga

DEFENDING champions Sadolin Power found the going tough in the Miracle Invitational Basketball tournament over the weekend, losing to a resurgent Miracle B side 23-32.
Solomon Ssali notched a game high 11 points for the home side to earn them a semi-final berth against their junior team Miracle A. Ken Balyejusa was the leading scorer for Power with 9 points only.Record League champions Falcons were unbeaten in the early rounds and will face Kyambogo Warriors in the other semi-final to be played on Saturday after heavy rains disrupted proceedings. Event organiser Chris Kyebambe said they will complete on March 3.

Angola's senior ladies basketball team starts competing Monday in the Zone VI Tournament that qualifies to the Pan-African Games (Algeria) and to the African Nations Cup (Senegal), by facing Mozambique in the opening round.
The competition being held in Harare (Zimbabwe) ends on March 03 and qualifies the top seeds in both groups.National coach, Anibal Moreira said the Angolans' line-up should start with Irene Guerreiro, Astrida Vicente, Dumitila Ventura, Luisa Macuto and Jaqueline Francisco.
Angolan has already qualified for both competitions in the males' category.
The tournament happens in a system of all against all in one leg. Angola that has already qualified for the Pan-African Games only fights to qualify for the African Nations Cup.

1º de Agosto ended unbeatable the first round of the national senior males basketball tournament. In ten encounters, 1º de Agosto obtained the same number of victories collecting 20 points.
Up to the moment, no team was capable of subtracting any points from 1º de Agosto who have scored 1054 points.To the contrary to what was expected, Petro de Luanda (903 points scored and less one game), does not seem capable of overcoming the team coached Jaime Covilhã. Apart from defeats in the provincial championship and in the Super Cup, in 2007, Petro were beaten in the first round of the Nationals, in a match in which the experience and technical superiority of 1º de Agosto, dominated.Interclube has a strong team but still lies in the third position behind Petro and 1º de Agosto.

The following encounters are set for Tuesday: Petro de Luanda-ASA and Imbondeiro de Viana- CDUAN.

The second round that begins on March 02 includes the following games: 1º de Agosto-Vila Clotilde, Nocal-Petro de Luanda, Interclube-Universidade Lusíada, Misto de Cabinda-ASA, CDUAN-Sporting de Luanda.

JKT men`s team start defending their title as they play Dodoma Spurs in the National Basketball League (NBL) opening match in Dodoma today.
The championship, which ends on March 4, will be played in two grounds -Jamhuri and Vijana.
The Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) Secretary-General, Laurence Cheyo, said all teams which had confirmed to compete were yesterday expected to arrive in Dodoma.
This is the first tournament TBF is staging since the current leadership was elected two years ago.
Cheyo named other teams which will compete in the championships as Cargo Ladies, Don Bosco, Iyunga, Flames, Pazi, JKT Oljoro, Oilers, Savio, Chuo cha Mipango and Mapinduzi Dodoma.

Kisumu city has been picked to host this year's East Africa Secondary schools games. Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) Secretary-General David Ngugi said the games would run from August 26 to September 2 at a venue yet to be identified. The championships would involve teams from Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda , Rwanda and Burundi who will compete for top honours in football, basketball, handball and netball. In basketball, Kenya will be defending both the girls and boys titles after Mombasa High School and Laiser Hill Academy won last year's titles in Tanzania 's port city of Dar es Salaam . Kisumu is town to Africa 's Largest Lake- Lake Victoria.

By Oscar Pilipili

St Austin’s Academy have successfully retained their Rift Valley Academy (RVA) Basketball Cup.

The Nairobi-based school rallied to beat hosts RVA 59-50 in a thrilling final to retain the trophy on Saturday.
The champions ended the annual tournament on a clean sheet after they won all their matches at the picturesque RVA.
David Ogolla was the highest scorer for the champions with 13 points with teammates Kevin Samora and Chidi Antoinne contributing 12 and 10. Richie Ndembe, who displayed a highly tactical game, scored 17 points including one three-pointer for RVA.
Aaron Mead had 10 points to his name and Evan Coots contributed seven for the runners-up. The hosts started the game on an enterprising note and were up 3-0 in the opening two minutes.
The teams exchanged the lead as the game progressed to tie at 20-all at half time.
Whereas the hosts dominated in the 20 minute first half, the visitors were rampant after the breather with Samora, Stephen Kivoto and Julius Mbewa playing the leading role. St Austin’s could have sealed the game at early stages but wasted numerous shot points compared to their opponents who converted virtually all that came their way.
St Austin’s captain Justus Yogomba said afterwards: "It’s good we have retained the trophy. High standards of discipline among our players helped us win the tournament."
His RVA counterpart Coots said both finalists played a good game but St Austin’s were lucky.
"All of us played good basketball but St Austin’s but at the end St Austin’s were better than us," said Coots.
"We might invite them for a friendly match soon," he added. Enroute to the final, St Austin’s defeated provincial rivals Nairobi Jaffery’s 37-32, while RVA overcame St Mary’s, also from Nairobi 38-15 in the semis.
St Austin’s victory over Jaffery’s was a sweet revenge after they lost to their opponents in the provincial semis last year. St Austin’s coach David Maina said: "Every team in the tournament was aiming to beat us because we were the defending champions but we did our level best to overcome the challenge."
Maina said their target is now to win the Nairobi secondary schools’ title.

TANZANIA Basketball Federation (TBF) has announced ten names of referees, who will oversee the forthcoming National Basketball League (NBL) to be held in Dodoma from February 26 to March 4.

TBF Secretary-General, Lawrence Cheyo, named the officials as Gosbert Boniface, George Kitundu, Aidan Mbaga, Prosper Mushi, George Kashmir, Alfred Ngalaliji, Francis Chalamila, Prosper Mushi, Magoiga Samson, Haleluya Kavalambi and Golita.
The tournament will involve 15 teams from six regions, which have confirmed taking part in the league to see three top placed teams booking tickets for the Union Championship.
Cheyo acknowledged efforts done by stakeholders to support the weeklong event, whose curtain- raiser pits defending champions JKT and host Dodoma Spurs.
"TBF would like to thank all stakeholders for their support especially Mega System Company, which has donated to us mineral water and Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) for pledging to meet referees and playing ground costs," said Cheyo.
Clubs, to take part in the event in men's discipline, are reigning champions JKT, Savio, Oilers from Dar es Salaam, Flames and Iyunga Crescent (Mbeya), Young Warriors and Mzinga (Morogoro), Bugando Heats (Mwanza), Soweto Kings (Arusha) and the hosts clubs are Dodoma Spurs and Chuo cha
Mipango.
The ladies' category has Mapinduzi Stars, Cargo Ladies, JKT and Lady Lion from Dar es Salaam.

PREPARATIONS for the Zone VI All-Africa Games and Olympic qualifiers are expected to move a gear up today with the scheduled arrival of the men's women's basketball teams.

The Games are expected to burst into life on Monday at the City Sports Centre.

The qualifiers will run until March 3 and four countries -- South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have confirmed they will field teams in both the men's and women's teams.

Malawi are only sending their men's team while seasoned campaigners Angola will be fielding a women's team only.
The Angolan men's side automatically qualified for both tournaments by virtue of being the All-Africa Games defending champions and hosts of the Africa Nations Cup.
Zimbabwe, who have been in camp for more than two weeks, are upbeat about their chances of securing tickets to the continental sports showcase scheduled for Algeria in July. United States-based Elijah Moyo, who arrived in the country earlier this week, is expected to provide the inspiration to the men's team together with the Namibia-based Mpumelelo Hlabangane, captain Farai Tumbare, brothers Norest and Duncan Shenje and Alan Tegunde.
Basketball Union of Zimbabwe official and tournament coordinator Simon Lawson yesterday said they were putting final touches to the match venue ahead of the teams' arrival.
"The preparation on both the teams and on the match venue are going on well and we are actually putting the final touches to the preparations."The teams are expected to arrive on Saturday but Botswana have pulled out while all the other teams are sending both their teams except for Malawi and Angola who are sending only their men's and women's teams respectively," said Lawson.

The two top teams at the Zone Six games, from the men and women categories will represent Southern African at the All-Africa Games and the Nations Cup to be hosted by Algeria and Angola respectively this year.

Zimbabwe are hoping to cash in on Angola's absence to qualify as the Angolans posed the biggest threat to their aspirations.

The top 16 basketball teams from the Coast Province will battle it out for top honours during the first edition of the Mombasa Sports Club Invitational basketball tournament this weekend.
The MSC basketball section captain, Frank Muteria, said teams will not be required to pay participation fee in the two day-event which has been fully sponsored by a member of the club.Muteria has appealed to teams to report from 8am for the draws and allocation of courts to allow the tournament to run smoothly.

Mombasa Sports Club women basketball team, still fresh from lifting the Kwale Open tournament, will get stiff challenge from the much improved Shimba Hills Secondary School, St Johns Kaloleni, and Margaret Wambui's Shanzu Teacher College.

Big contest

Other women's teams are Matuga Girls, Waa Girls, Changamwe Secondary, Mombasa Sports Club 'B' and Mombasa Polytechnic.

The boys' contest will see Mombasa Baptist High School and Shimba Hills Secondary settle their scores in the final of the Kwale Open tournament which failed to take off in Kwale due to darkness.
Other men teams invited include: Mombasa Polytechnic, Makupa Lakers, Changamwe Rollers, Shimba Hills Secondary and Mombasa Baptist High School.
Also invited are Changamwe Secondary, Khamis High School, and Waa Boys High School.
"Being the first major tournament at the club, we expect teams to come on time so that the programme can run uninterrupted, within the scheduled two days," Muteria said.
The schools teams and colleges will use the tournament as a build-up for the inter-schools and inter-colleges championships set for later this month.
Elsewhere, National girls' schools' champions Mombasa High School and Shimba Hills Secondary School girls have landed invitations to the All Star memorial basketball tournament in Nairobi on October 3.

Memory
ccording to Nellie Odera of Eagle Wings Promotions, the co-ordinator the event, the tournament, which is aimed developing girl child and women's basketball, has for the second year running been organised in memory of former stars Nancy Onkoba, Susan Agoya and Phoebe Orimba.

Odera said Eagle Wings Promotions was a sports promoting body that has been established to market and run sports programs for various disciplines.
"We are very interested in the overall development of the girl child and women as a whole. In this regard we intend to hold a memorial All Star game which we held last year in honor of three players, Nancy Onkoba, Susan Agoya and Phoebe Orimba, who we feel served the basketball fraternity exceptionally well especially in the Kenya national team," she said.

THE 2006 basketball season tips off this weekend with the Miracle Invitational Challenger Series at the club's home ground in Rubaga.
The tournament, organised by Miracle Basketball Club, brings together top teams as they prepare for the MTN-FUBA League due in a few weeks' time.
Sadolin Power and KCC Leopards will be out to defend the trophies they won last year after edging Crane High School and Makerere University Sparks.
To spice up the event, dunking and three-point shooting competitions are also on card, with the winners walking away with cash prizes. The best in both competitions takes home Shs25, 000 while the winning team bags Shs0.2m.Apart from cash prizes teams and individual players will be warming up for next weekend's Hoops of Hope Tournament and the Makerere Open, which will act as a curtain raiser for the league.

Meanwhile, according to Fuba President Ambrose Tashobya, Federation of International Basketball Associations (Fiba) has promised to act tough on all clubs that take part in the league without trained coaches.
"We have been informed that for our league to be recognized, every club must have a Fiba trained and certified coach. So I call on all clubs to facilitate their coaches for training as a way of professionalising the league," said Fuba boss Tashobya.

The senior ladies basketball team leaves this Friday for Zimbabwe, where it starts taking part in the tournament that qualifies to the Pan-African Games (in Algeria) and to the African Championship (Senegal).
After a 10-days preparation, the players of coach Aníbal Moreira will try to qualify for the African Championships, with the presence at the Pan-African Games already guaranteed.During the preparation, the national coach will give priority to two and three points shooting, man- to-man defence and fast attack, in order to oppose the advantage of more physically fit opponents.

The national team played four friendly matches, having lost three against junior males' teams of Petro de Luanda (55-91, 50-64) and of 1º de Agosto (50-83). They beat the mixed team of Luanda by 75-38.

The competition is in the second day of play in Douala and Yaounde.

The basketball competition among some companies in Douala and Yaounde organised by the Mobile telephone network company, MTN, dubbed "No Stress basketball tournament" is in the second day of play. In the Douala conference, CNIC is topping group 'A' with four points. Followed by Total S.A. with three points. Maersk and MTN tail the pool with one point each. In group 'B', VBC Libermann is first with four points also. Mobile Oil is on the second position with three points. TEXACO and Union Bank have one point each. In the Yaounde conference with only one group and six teams, Veterans ENS tops the table with four points. The second is BEAC with four points also but with a 1.06 goal difference.Express Union occupies the third position with 3 points. Same as SNH on the fourth position with a goal difference of 1.01. VBC Old Stars are 5th with two points and CNPS is at the bottom of the table with no point registered in two matches.

The third day of play in the Yaounde conference will be on February 25 at the playground of the University of Yaounde I. While the first two days of play went without qualms in the Yaounde conference, some players were punished for anti sports behaviour and others suspended from the competition. Also the identities of some players will have to be verified before the third day of play to take place on February 25 equally. It would be recalled, the No stress basketball Tournament was organised with the intention to foster friendship ties among workers of the companies concerned. The winner will take home a cash prize of 2.4 million; the runner-up, 1.2 million, 3rd, 600 and 4th, 300 respectively. The competition which began on February 11, will end on March 25 with the final played in Yaounde.

ZIMBABWE'S basketball chief is confident of clinching a berth at the 2007 All-Africa Games at the expense of five regional countries coming to Harare for the Zone VI qualifiers next week.
South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola and Malawi are expected in the capital for the joint preliminary qualifiers for the All Africa Games and the African National Championships.The qualifiers, to be played on a round-robin format at the City Sports Centre, start on Monday up to Saturday.
The All Africa Games are scheduled for Algeria in September, with the African Nations Championships set Angola later.
Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and Angola will have male and female participants while Angola and Malawi will only send male participants for the championships.
Simeon Lawson, administrator of the qualifiers, said Zimbabwe had assembled strong squads they had faith in."We want to go to the All Africa Games and the African Nations Championships as well," said Lawson. "We have high chances of coming out as winners because we have a strong squad that we hope will do well.
"We played more than five games as preparations. Zimbabwe won all the matches against Zambia and we hope that continues."

Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia pulled out of the zonal qualifiers.

COACH Peter Mubanda cautioned his team about champions Power as the team to watch in the Miracle Invitational basketball tournament.

The 5th edition of the two-day event, dubbed MBC Challenger series, gets underway today at the Miracle court in Rubaga."The boys will have to step up gear if they wish to hold off the stiff challenges that await them.
But at the same time, I believe they are the surprise package to win the event," Miracle coach Mubanda noted.
Former champions and tournament hosts Miracle, are confident the adequate preparations, coupled with home court advantage will give them an edge over their opponents.Meanwhile, MUK-Sparks, who finished second in last year's edition, have indicated that they will push much harder for the cash prize in the women's category.
Other women's teams expected to take part are defending champions KCC Leopards, Amazon Rhino, Crane High and KIU.
Eight men's and four women's teams will use the event as a build up for the league next month.

The best scorer of the national senior ladies basketball team, Felizarda Ambrósio is the main player who is absent from the list of 12 athletes selected to represent the country in the Harare Tournament (Zimbabwe), from February 25 to March 03.

The list was divulged on Wednesday at the end of a friendly match against the Mixed Team of Luanda.
Play Makers: Barbara Guimarães, Catarina Camufal, Isabel Francisco and Domitila Ventura.
Forwards: Ângela Cardoso, Irene Guerreiro, Sónia Guadalupe, Ernestina Neto and Astride Vicente.

Centre: Jacqueline Francisco, Nguendula Filipe and Luisa Macuto.

THE National basketball league (NBL) defending champions Dar es Salaam JKT are scheduled to meet Dodoma Spurs in the opening match of this year's tournament to be held in Dodoma from February 26 to March 4.

Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) secretary general, Lawrence Cheyo said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the
Dodoma Regional Commissioner, William Lukuvi will grace the opening ceremony of the event which will involve 14
teams.
Cheyo said that preparations for the event scheduled to take place at Jamhuri stadium and Vijana basketball Court are in final stages. "Everything is set for the event," declared Cheyo, who called upon teams which have confirmed their participation to be in Dodoma by February 25 to enable TBF make the draw.
Teams which have confirmed taking part in the event in men's discipline are JKT, Savio, Oilers from Dar es Salaam,
Flames, Iyunga Crescent (Mbeya), Young Warriors and Mzinga (Morogoro), Bugando Heats (Mwanza), Soweto kings
(Arusha) and hosts will be represented by Dodoma Spurs and Planning College.
The ladies category has Mapinduzi Dodoma, Cargo ladies, JKT and Lady Lion from Dar es Salaam.
Meanwhile, TBF has confirmed the withdraw of the country's two most popular clubs Pazi and Vijana 'The City Bulls' due to financial problems.

By Gloria Kyomugisha
Kampala

THE winning teams in this year's Miracle Invitational basketball tournament will earn cash prizes.
The two-day event dubbed 'the MBC Challenger series' starts tomorrow at the Miracle court in Rubaga.Winners and runners-up in the men and women's categories, will each win a cash award in the event that will for the first time, be played under floodlights.
Unlike last year's edition where cash prizes were awarded to individual winners, the 2007 Challenger series will have teams battle for pole position in a bid to claim the treasure.According to the event chairperson, Chris Kyebambe, entries are open to teams and registration fee is sh50,000.
Sadolin Power and Kampala City Council Leopards will face an uphill task as they defend their men and women's titles respectively.

Meanwhile, organisers will receive a sponsorship boost from Rwenzori Beverages today. The tournament budget is sh3m.

Botswana has pulled out of the International Basketball Association (FIBA) Africa joint preliminaries for the 2007 All-Africa Games and the African Nations Championships to be hosted by Zimbabwe later this month.

Botswana's withdrawal has forced tournament organisers to delay the start of the event by two days. Five countries from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region - Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe will now be participating in the tournament, which runs from February 26 to March 3. The Harare championships will be used as joint qualifiers for the All-Africa Games in Algeria later this year and the African Nations Championships in Angola next August. Angola is the continent's leading basketball-playing nation.Addison Chiware, chairman of the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) confirmed that only five countries would be participating, adding that Botswana's absence would be a blow to the tournament. "The Federation International de Basketball (FIBA) recently informed us that Botswana would not be among the contestants after they withdrew. Because of their withdrawal, we have changed the date for the beginning of the event. It will now start two days late," said Chiware.

"Their absence means that the competition and excitement Batswana were to bring to Harare will not be there. However, despite their withdrawal, we are confident the tournament will be successful," he added.

Malawi, who had been out of the international competition for close to two decades, will mark their return. The Malawians will be fielding their men's team. The two top teams from the Harare qualifiers - one for men and the other for women - will represent the Southern African region at the All-Africa Games and the African Nations Championships. The men's team from powerhouse Angola automatically qualified for both tournaments because they are the defending All-Africa Games champions and Africa Nations Cup hosts. Algeria qualified for the All-Africa Games by virtue of being the hosts. The Harare tournament would be played on a round-robin basis, which means that each team plays against the other once.

By SANDE A. BASHAIJA
WANDEGEYA

THE 2007 basketball season won't have any newcomers after the Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) decided not to increase the number of teams.
Last season over 40 teams took part in the league but the new Fuba executive is even planning to eject some old ones.

The decision was reached during last Friday's consultative meeting between the executive and club representatives. The members agreed that the number of teams had overwhelmed match officials and facilities. Over 40 teams took part in last year's league.
Fuba president Ambrose Tashobya also revealed to the members that they were planning to increase registration fees for every team from Shs100,000 to Shs200,000. Some members, who argued that clubs have no sources of revenue, however did not buy the idea.
At the meeting it was also decided teams pay registration fee before March 15. The league is expected to start late next month or in April.
“ Teams have at times finished the season without paying but this time round its going to be different. We are planning a classic league that is so organised,”said Tashobya.

1º de Agosto beat Interclube on Saturday at "28 de Fevereiro" pavilion by 103-80 and continues being the only invincible team in the national senior males basketball tournament, after ten rounds.
1 º de Agosto found great difficulties to overcome a defensive organised team that was fast in the counter attacks. Interclube's good performance only lasted until the third quarter, as 1º de Agosto started showing their technical superiority and experience.Interclube started well the game with two three-point shots by Vicente Neto, whilst 1 º de Agosto answered through Lutonda who reduced the scores to 6-3.

With this result 1º de Agosto now has 16 points at the top of the standings table, followed by Interclube in the second position. Petro de Luanda that rested on Saturday is third with 15 points.

UNITED States based basketball star Elijah Moyo arrived in the country yesterday ahead of the joint preliminaries of the 2007 All-Africa Games and the Africa Cup of Nations.


The championships are set to run from February 26 to March 3 at the City Sports Centre.
Moyo, who is based at Philadelphia College in the United States.
Team manager Langton Moyo said the former Cameo star was scheduled to join camp in the evening after being given time to visit his family.
“Preparations for the tournament are going on smoothly. Moyo arrived this morning aboard the British Airways.
“We are taking these games seriously and I am confident that we will qualify for the finals in both tournaments,” he said.
Moyo, together with the Namibia based Mpumelelo Dhlabangane, captain Farai Tumbare, Duncan Shenje and Alan Tegunde are expected in to steer the Zimbabwean ship to glory.
Meanwhile, Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) is still to get sponsorship for the joint preliminaries.
BUZ president Addison Chiware confirmed the development, but allayed fears of the country failing to host the games.
“We are still to secure funds for the games, but there are a number of promises. I am sure something will prop up in the coming few days.
“I am very confident that we will host the games. We are negotiating with a number of sponsors who will bankroll us during the championships.
“All the six countries have confirmed participation. There is no way we can let go the golden opportunity that has come our way,” he said.
There are fears that BUZ may fail to raise funds to host the championships, which will involve six Southern African countries.
Two top teams at the Zone Six basketball championships, from the men and women categories will represent the Southern African region at the All-Africa Games and the Nations Cup to be hosted by Algeria and Angola respectively.
Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying for the finals of both tournaments are bright especially given that Angola, who posed the biggest threat, will not be involved in the preliminaries.
Angola automatically qualified for both tournaments by virtue of being the defending champions of the All -Africa Games and hosts of the Africa Nations Cup.
Senegal will host the women’s tournament in August.
Favourites South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia are all taking part in the competition.
Zimbabwe men’s squad
Allan Tegunde, Taurai Chitsinde, Emanuel Mukande, Eric Banda, Tonderai Mukundu, Tafi Soko, Norest Shenje, Duncan Shenje, Farai Tumbare, Royce Takaendesa, Nyasha Mushekwi, Mpumelelo Hlabangane, Tinashe Muchenje, Brian Hore and Elijah Moyo.

ALSA Volunteers Program-AVP members were at Kianyaga High School in Kirinyaga District, Central province on Sunday, where they conducted a mini-basketball clinic. The members, Richard Okila, Glenns Etyang, Mildred Akure and Coach Davies, took the students through basic basketball drills that included dribbling, shooting, offense and defensive movement and plays. After the clinic, AVP members had a talk with the students, advising them on both sports as well as academic and social issues before donating a basketball to the team.
The clinic is part of a wider outreach program that is being initiated by AVP, targeting to reach out to basketball communities all over the country.

St Austin's Academy-Nairobi powered back from a 6-point deficit to overcome St Mary's School- Nairobi 48-32 in the boy's final of the 2007 ISK Invitational Tournament. Austin 's had gone up 4-0 early in the half after quick baskets by David Ogolla and Samora Ken. St Mary's, overcame their slow start, putting up a spirited fight led by A. Kimeu, M. Githungu and M. Mogeni to take control of the game. Kimeu sunk the games first 3-pointer to give his team a 10-6 advantage with 4 minutes to go in the first half. Austin 's bounced back through Ogolla, Samora and Steve Kivoto to close in within a point; 12-13 with 1:40 to go, but their opponents led by Githungu and Kimeu recovered quick enough to give their team a 18-14 advantage at the break.On resumption into the second half, St Mary's picked up from where they had left, With Kimeu bringin' down the house after sinking another big 3-pointer inside 10 seconds of play for a 20-14 lead. Both teams then traded baskets at both ends before St Mary's succumbed to St Austin 's pressure, after Austin 's guards Ken Samora and David Ogolla backed by power forward Antoine Chidi put up a combined effort to reclaim their team's lead at 29-28 with 8 minutes. The trio teamed up with Steve Kivoto in the final 4 minutes to seal the sweet victory after superb offensive plays, with things completely falling apart for St Mary's after an Antoine Chidi-dunk over several of their players. Samora and Ogolla each shot 13 points for Austin 's with Chidi adding 9, while Kimeu replied for St Mary's with 12 points. Austin's Head Coach David "Maich" Maina was satisfied with the results, pointing out that the boy's hard work was paying off, and he has his eyes set on even bigger titles this year.

In the other games, hosts International School of Kenya-ISK hit Rusinga School 35-31 to take the third position, while Rosslyn Academy came from 5 points down to upset Imani School 45-41 in over-time after a 36-36 tie to finish 5 th .

In the girls category, hosts ISK wet home with the silverware over Pangani Girls High School and St Austin's Academy.

Full Results:

Girls

Pangani Girls 23- St Austin's Academy 07
ISK 26- St Austin's Academy 00
ISK- 17 Pangani Girls 15


Boys

St Austin's 36- ISK Lions 10
ISK Lions 47- Imani School 12
St Mary's School 42- Rusinga School 19
Rusinga School 27-Rosslyn Academy 19
St Austin's Academy 43- Imani School 10
St Mary's School 49- Rosslyn Academy 36
Rosslyn Academy 45- Imani School 41 OT
ISK Lions 35- Rusinga School 31

National Schools basketball champions Laiser Hill Academy (boys ) and Mombasa High School (girls) are placed in tough groups in this year’s national championships to be staged in Eldoret from April 9 to 15.

Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association secretary general David Ngugi gave the groupings when released the association’s calendar of events for the year and the first term games draws.
The draw has placed Laiser Hill Academy in the same group with their bogey teams from Nyanza, Central and Coast while group B has Rift Valley representatives, Eastern, Nairobi and Western.
In the girls’ draws, defending champions Mombasa High are placed in a tough pool A which also has last years runners-up and third placed Western and Rift Valley and Nairobi while pool B has Coast representatives, Eastern, Central and Nyanza.’
In boys’ hockey, defending champions Friends school Kamusinga are in pool A which also has Coast, Central and Nyanza while Pool B has Western representatives, Eastern and Nairobi. The girls’ group has defending champions Hillcrest, Western, Central and Eastern in group A while group B has Nairobi representatives, Rift Valley, Nyanza and Coast.
Ngugi said arrangements for accommodation were complete with the boys teams being accommodated at the Hill School while the girls teams will stay at Moi Girls Eldoret.
Ngugi also said the term Two A games featuring athletics, 15s rugby, handball and netball will be held in Kakamega from June 3 to 9 while term Two B games featuring soccer, volleyball and racquet games will be played in Nyeri from August 6 to 12.
Ngugi added that the East African School games will be hosted by Kisumu from August 26 to September 2 at venues which will be announced later.

International School of Kenya basketball Lionesses pawed their way to a second victory in four years in the invitational International Schools of Kenya under-18 girls’ championships yesterday by mauling Pangani Girls.

Pangani were marked out from the start as they launched their title defence. They were reduced to spectators as ISK ran rings around them in defence to pick an early lead. However, they settled down and took control but failed to find last year’s form as ISK won 17-15.
The girls event was played on a round robin format after Moi Nairobi and Imani schools failed to show up.
In the boys category, St Austin’s held off a late surge from St. Mary’s to claim the silverware in a tight final. ISK fought hard to take the bronze medal edging out a determined Rusinga School.
It was St Austin’s sharp striking which proved useful as they limited their rivals to defensive play and went into recess with a comfortable 24-16 lead.
However, St Austin’s threw in everything in the second half as they sought to narrow the gap but failed to claim the lead as their opponents out-muscled them. They moved to the fourth quarter trailing 38-27 before Moses Mogeni and Shaki Chrispus took control and scored several baskets but it was not enough to pull them level when the buzzer sounded with scores reading 48-32.

BASKETABALL-Starting this season, the national basketball league games will be played at the indoor stadium at Lugogo. FUBA president Ambrose Tashobya confirmed that most of the league games will be played indoors other than the traditional YMCA courts. “YMCA has been more of a home ground but there is need to have our players get used to indoors,” he said.

By Gloria Kyomugisha

FUBA rankings Points
Nkumba-Marines 200
Sadolin Power 180
Warriors 150
Falcons 110
Charging Rhinos 98
KIU 92
Miracle 83
Gulu Hawks 75
Livingstone 60
Najja High 50

CHAMPIONS Nkumba-Marines lived up to their billing when they maintained top position on the FUBA rankings. It was the second year running that the Entebbe-based side came out top.

Falcons, who were last top in 2004 when they won the league title, dropped to fourth place after a 69-61 third-place defeat by Warriors last November.
Marines also topped the ranks in 2006, five months after rankings were introduced by the game�s ruling body.
The rankings, which are used to determine seedings at local tournaments, are based on the results of the past year with extra weight given to the national league.
The strength of the opposition and the nature of the competition are also considered, with tournaments and league matches earning more points than friendly games.
Elsewhere, Zone V basketball president Morris Aluanga has requested Rwanda to consider hosting the East and Central Africa Club championship in August, in case Burundi falls out.
He said logistics like the 24-second shot clock, which Burundi do not have, might deter them from hosting.

Rwanda has been asked to be on standby to host the East and Central Africa club championships incase Burundi would not be ready.
Zone Five president Morris Aluanga made the request during his closing address after the end of the All Africa Games qualifiers in Kigali.He said logistics like the 24 second shot clock, which Burundi do not have, might hinder them hosting the championships. "You might host us again in August." Aluanga said to a delirious crowd that included the country's minister for Health who was the chief guest.
The tournament was pushed from April to August at the request of host organisers Federation Basketball du Burundi.
Vice President Alexis Songomwa said that the long rains in April will not make it possible to have the show during that time and as a result it has been decided to be moved to August.
"We do not have an indoor stadium like they do in other parts of the region, and with the rains expected to fall in April, it will be impossible to hold the event," said Songomwa.He said that despite Burundi being the host it wouldn't enter four teams for the event, but will only register two namely Urunani for men and Berco Stars in the women category.

Rwanda officials also disclosed their teams for the event as national men champions APR Lions, coached by Kenyan Cliff Owuor, and University of Rwanda women side.

Kenya will take four teams in KCB Lions and Kenya Ports Authority who will be defending their titles and national champions Ulinzi Warriors and Telkom Kenya.

The North American basketball player Lamar Rice, who is in Luanda since, is playing for 1º de Agosto's senior team on a trial basis, coach Jaime Covilhã has informed.
Speaking to ANGOP, Jaime Covilhã explained that the athlete will be on a ten-day trial."He is interested in playing in Angola and we want to reinforce our team. If we like him we will sign him", he stressed, without giving any more details.

The 24 year-old Lamar played in 2006 for Lausanne Morges of the Swiss first division.

The United States Embassy in collaboration with Right to Play, an international non-governmental organization has organized a "charity basketball tournament" to help Liberian youth repair the basketball courts in their communities.
According to a release from the US Embassy public affairs section, additional games will be played every Sunday through March 18, 2007 at the U.S. Embassy compound basketball court.

The release said, funds raised from the tournament will be used to construct a basketball court in a local community that needs it. So far, the tournament has generated much money, but the organizers are hoping more people will contribute to this effort, the release said.

On Sunday, February 11, three exciting matches took place with Hustlers and Road Runners narrowly going down to Y-shooters and Urban respectively. In the day's first encounter, Veterans collected a landslide victory of DiplomatThe tournament, which began on January 28, 2007 involves several local basketball teams including "Hustlers" of Lone Star Cell, "Road Runners", "Urban", "Veterans", "Y-Shooters", and "Diplomats" of the US Embassy.

ABOUT 4000 secondary schools across the country featuring about 1,200 students and 1,000 officials are expected to participate in the 2007 Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship which enters its 9th edition this year and would run from February 24 to March 9, 2007.

For this purpose the country has been divided into six conferences namely Savannah with centre in Kano, Sahara with centre in Bauchi, Central in Ilorin, Equatorial in Yenagoa , Atlantic in Enugu and Western in Ibadan with states drawn in groups of five, six and seven.Managing Director and Chief Executive of the sponsoring company, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mr. Klaus Wachsmuth disclosed this at a press conference to usher in the championship in Lagos yesterday with a promise that his company will "further accelerate the development of basketball in Nigeria and positively engage the energy of the youths" among other key objectives. He disclosed that registration of interested schools for the championship has commenced as he advised those who have completed their forms should submit same to their state sports council before February 23 to qualify for the Intra-state preliminaries/finals.Apart from trophies, Nestle products and branded items to be given to winners, Mr. Wachsmuth said that financial rewards will go to the overall winners in both the male and female categories. The champion schools for boys and girls will get N25,000 each while the first and second runners-up will earn N20,000 and N15,000 respectively
One of the highlights of this year's event will be "train the trainers camp" where basketball coaches will have the opportunity to learn new skills as they train the nation's future champions. Insurance cover to the tune of N100,000 for death of players and officials with N25,000 going for medical expenses.

President of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), Dr. Thomas Adeleke (Olaiya) also said that the federation places high premium on genuine talents discovery and therefore will not condone any act of cheating.

Information reaching our Sports desk said that one of Liberia's oldest clubs, Invincible Eleven (IE) basketball team has been banned by the Liberia Basketball Federation (LBF) from further participating in the LBF national league until the team can pay the US$7,800 debt owed by the club.
According to the information, the Yellow Boys have been banned by the Authority of the Liberia Basketball from partaking in any of its activities including the LBF National League that officially kickoff yesterday at the Open Air Sports Commission on Broad Street.The US$7,800 was said to have been given the Yellow Boys by the Liberia Basketball Federation during their participation in the FIBA Africa competition that took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast sometime last year.

The information further said that the President of the club, Mr. Bill Martins promised to pay back the money, but has since refused and neglected to live up to his promise, something that has seriously endangered the operations of the club even at the National level.The report indicated that while in Abidjan, the IE boss presented to the Authority of the LBF a check of US$7,800, but upon arrival to Monrovia the check was later identified as fake.
Meanwhile, the information furthered that the members of the Board of Directors of the Invincible Eleven (IE) have removed Mr. Bill Martins as President of the club and have appointed a stirring committee to stir the affairs of the club until other wise.

At the same time, the LFB National League on yesterday officially kickoff at the Open Air Sports Commission.

The National Basketball Federation (Ferwaba) has extended it’s gratitude to the sponsors of the Zone V Basketball/ All Africa Games qualifiers’ championship that ended at Amahoro Petit Stade on Saturday.
Egypt and Kenya earned automatic qualifications the men and women’s category respectively, to play at the All Africa Games, which tournament will staged in Algiers, Algeria in July.
Speaking at the event’s closing function; Ferwaba’s president Fidele Rutagarama was grateful to the companies that supported the week-long tournament.
MTN, the leading telecommunications firm and Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR) threw their weight behind the championship that attracted only five countries out of the expected 10.
“Without their contribution, we wouldn’t have had a free-flowing tournament. Their contribution was very vital to the competition and we only hope that they can continue rendering this kind of support in future,” Rutagarama said.
The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (MIJESPOC) Secretary General Jean Pierre Karabaranga also acknowledged MTN and BCR’s support at the competition and advised other companies to follow suit.
He was also happy with the general organisation of the event and confirmed that Rwanda was ready to host any future regional and international basketball competitions. The ministry contributed the biggest percentage to this qualifiers’ budget, with MTN and BCR supplementing.
Rwanda’s men national basketball team finished second in the competition behind Egypt while the ladies’ side could only manage a third spot finish, in a category the Kenyan women won. The Military Medical Insurance company, was too partners of the tournament.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

CMTU women team of Chang`ombe in Dar es Salaam has joined PTW Stars for this year`s Kili RBA season after winning second position in the Dar Dream Cup, a fixture used to upgrade teams.

CMTU won two matches and lost two, but collected six points while PTW Stars won all their four matches bagging in eight points.
However, teams which are manned by the Tanzania People`s Defence Force, TPDF, will join their sister Jeshi Stars team who have been featuring in the league for some time.
PTW Stars player Nipael Kassy told Sunday Observer that they would mantain their win spirit to remain in the league as they have a formidable side.
``We will try our level best to win and remain in the RBA, but we fear the administration who might dissolve our team to take some players to the top team.
This will obviously reduce our morale and make us stand to lose,`` says Nipael who last year played for JKT Stars before she secured a job with TPDF.

In the men categories ABC and PTW who are also under TPDF have already qualified for Kili RBA scheduled for early June.
But, the fate of Don Bosco and Tanblacks awaits results of their last match expected to be held yesterday. Both teams have 10 points.
Der Dream Cup targets to upgrade four men and two women teams to RBA, summing up 14 men and six women teams.

Other men teams that participated in the competition are Srelio, Cavarries and Cargo Boys, while women are Police Queens.
Fixture for yesterday`s encounter was Crows Vs Tanblacks, Cargo Boys Vs Cavarries and PTW Vs Srelio.

By Dann O’Werre in Kigali

Kenya must bring back at least four US-based players if the national women’s team is to do well in the 9th All Africa Games in Algeria in July.
These were the views of national coach Thomas Olumbo who talked to SportFest after the end the Zone Five qualifiers at Amahoro Petit Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda.
Kenyan girls secured a ticket to the Pan African festival after beating Rwanda 95-38 in their last game of the tournament. They won all their four matches.
The players in question include Josephine Adhiambo, who was in Nigeria, Rose Ouma, Maureen Obudho, Jackie Wasuda and Mirriam Wandanda. The tactician said the US-based players were crucial to Kenya’s All Africa Games campaign. "There are no two ways about it. Without them, Kenya won’t achieve anything just like was the case in Abuja four years ago.
"We will monitor their performances and inform the Kenya Basketball Federation regarding the ones we want included in the squad," said Olumbo.
"If we get the players, we will definitely put up a splendid performance in Algiers."

Hamza Ruhezamihigo was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Zone V basketball Championships/ African Cup of Nations (CAN) / All Africa Games Qualifiers that winded up yesterday at Amahoro petit stade.
Despite a rather blow standard performance during the competition’s final game against Burundi, the prestigious award was well still within Ruhezamihigo’s reach after his spectacular performances in previous games against Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya.
The shooting guard was one of Rwanda’s major weapons against her opponents and on a number of occasions, the Canadian based player single handedly rescued the team and lifted them to glory.
On receiving the award, the 21 year-old was overwhelmed and said that it was his greatest achievement.
“I feel so honored to be voted MVP. I have won awards in the past but non means so much to me like this particular one. It’s a great achievement on my part,” the calm player told Times Sport on phone.
Rwanda also produced the event’s best defenders in the men and ladies’ category. Valere Kajeguhakwa a.k.a Bunene and Claudette Mugwaneza claimed the awards while Egypt’s Ahmed Monir (men) and Kenya’s Gladyce Wanyama (women) collected top scorers’ accolades. On top of the top scorer’s honor, Wanyama was also voted MVP in the ladies category.
Following the event performances, Egypt and Kenya (women) have automatic qualifications to the All Africa Games scheduled for July in Algeria as well as the CAN event slated for September in Angola.
Rwanda men team finished in the first runner’s up spot behind Egypt following their win over Burundi. The win was very vital as it may have earned the country it’s first ever CAN appearance. According to Fiba officials who over-ran the event, Rwanda’s chances of taking part in the 2007 CAN event are high but they insisted that Fiba had the final ruling on who would make it for the CAN event.

Egypt 92 Kenya 71
Rwanda 70 Burundi 55

Event’s ranking
Men win Loss
1. Egypt 04 00
2. Rwanda 03 01
3. Kenya 02 02
4. Burundi 01 03
5. Ethiopia 00 04

Women win Loss
1. Kenya 04 00
2. Burundi 01 03
3. Rwanda 01 03


Hamza Ruhezamihigo was voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the just concluded games of Zone 5 that brought together Rwanda, Egypt, Kenya, Burundi and Ethiopia.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

By Dann O’Werre, in Kigali

Kenya national men’s basketball team were shut out of the 9th All Africa Games when they fell 71-92 to Egypt in the Zone Five qualifying round at the Amahoro Petit Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda.

The result means that Kenya will not only miss a ticket to Algeria in July but also an all-expense paid trip to Angola for the Africa Masculine championships later in the year.

After going down to Rwanda 64-75 on Tuesday, Kenya needed to win by more than 17 points to top the pool. But they got off to a shaky start trailing 15-29 in the first quarter and never recovered.
The Egyptians shot 10 three-pointers in the duel and easily cruised to a 49-28 lead at the end of the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Egypt rained shots through Rammy Gennedy, Wael Badr, Ahmed Moneer, Ahmed Kaleed and Mohammed Kerdany, raced away 60-28 before Kenya replied through Patrick Kirui.
The victors built a huge 34 points cushion and were in total control in this quarter. But Kenya, cheered on by the Rwandese — who believed a Kenya win would propel them to Algiers — hanged on.
But they got disappointed after a dunk by Egypt’s Badr, which gave them a strong 90-56 lead deep into the last quarter. Kenya’s Cliff Ochieng’ and Dan Okwiri put up a strong fight but was not adequate to turn the tables on their Egyptian opponents.
Okwiri led Kenya with 21 points, while Ochieng’ shot 16 and Ben Oluoch added 11. Egypt had 18 from Moneer, 16 and Geneddy 15 from Badr.
Coach Ronny Owino hailed Okwiri, Ochieng’, Simon Mugambi and Ben Oluoch, saying: "They tried their best against very strong opponents to keep us in the game. I’m extremely happy with their performance."

UNITED States based Elija Moyo has been included in the final squad for the joint preliminaries of the 2007 All- Africa Games and the Africa Cup of Nations to played later this month in the country.




Releasing the 15 member squad, team coach Ronald Garura said Moyo was still holed in the US, but will be in the country anytime this week before the team goes into camp on Sunday.
Also in the team is Allan Tegunde, Eric Banda, young Nyasha Mushekwi, Namibian based Mpumelelo Hlabangani and Brian Hore, who is also still to arrive from his base in Namibia, but is also expected in the country on Friday.
Announcing the final squad, Garura expressed confidence that his charges would qualify for both tournaments.
“From the games we have played, I can assure you that we have a very strong squad. We hope the two players, Hore and Moyo, who are still to arrive will be in town before Sunday when we go into camp. The tournament is going to be very tough, but we have home advantage and I hope that will work in our favour,” he said.
Zimbabwe has played two friendly matches ahead of the Zone Six championships. They recently hosted the Zambians at the weekend winning the first match 54-47 before wrapping up the series the following day with a 55-53.
This was the second time the Zimbabwean teams got the better of the Zambians in friendly matches played in preparation for the Zone Six basketball championship.
The two teams met in December last year in a tri-nations tournament that also featured Botswana. Zimbabwe men’s team were the overall winners of the tournament after seeing off the challenge of Zambia 71-59 in the final. Two top teams at the Zone Six basketball championships, from the men and women category will represent the Southern African region at the All-Africa Games and the Nations Cup to be hosted by Algeria and Angola respectively.
Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying for the finals of both tournaments are bright especially given that Angola, who posed the biggest threat, will not be involved in the preliminaries.
Angola automatically qualified for both tournaments by virtue of being the defending champions of the All -Africa Games and hosts of the Africa Nations Cup.
Senegal will host the women’s tournament in August.Favourites South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia are all taking part in the competition.
Zimbabwe men’s squad
Allan Tegunde, Taurai Chitsinde, Emanuel Mukande, Eric Banda, Tonderai Mukundu, Tafi Soko, Norest Shenje, Duncan Shenje, Farai Tumbare, Royce Takaendesa, Nyasha Mushekwi, Mpumelelo Hlabangane, Tinashe Muchenje, Brian Hore and Elija Moyo.

Despite a second spot finish in the All Africa Games qualifiers/Zone V Basketball Championships, Rwanda could participate in the African Cup of Nations (CAN) basketball competitions scheduled for 2008 in Angola.
According to the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), the winner in each category (men and women) automatically qualifies for both the All Africa Games as well as CAN.
With Egypt already destined to take part in the competition, after going through the entire tournament unbeaten, Fiba has given room to the event’s runners’ up to be part of the action.
Victory for the home team against Burundi today will guarantee her participation in the CAN.
According to Ferwaba officials, the decision came basing onto two factors.
Sources said that Fiba considered that Zone V had the biggest number of member countries compared to other zones on the continent, as well as the encouraging high standard of the game at the Kigali competition, which concludes this morning at Amahoro Petit sade.
“Fiba looked at the number of countries who turned up for the competition as well as the strength of the competition itself.
A Fiba official said that Rwanda’s chances of taking part in the continental championship were high.
“We are impressed with the level of the game in the country, organisation, and we shall make Fiba aware in our report,” said Jose Farrete, one of the Fiba officials who have been commissioning the tournament.
According to Fiba, the continental event will attract sixteen countries; Angola, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco, Mali and Central African Republic (RAC) who finished in the top seven spots during the last CAN championship, seven countries who will have topped their respective zones.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

By Dann O’Were in Kigali

Simon Mugambi sparkled as Kenya men whipped Burundi 101-85 in their penultimate Zone Five All Africa Games qualifier at the Amahoro Petit Stadium.

Ancette Wafula’s opener set Kenya on course for the second win of the tournament. This was immediately followed by Dan Okwiri and Mugambi’s baskets that made it 6-0.
Burundi then replied with a few baskets in quick succession, but a three-pointer by the lanky Dan Otiso saw Kenya build a strong 31-17 advantage in the first quarter.
The onslaught continued in the second quarter as Kenya ran rings around the Burundians, topping 56-34 at half-time. They continued with the same zeal after the breather as they exerted their authority.
Cliff Ochieng’ and workhorse Yoni Wanambiro engineered a 82-61 cushion in the third quarter despite captain Ben Oluoch’s poor form.
His below par performance in three games has not only stunned everyone but himself included. The other guards — Okwiri, Ochieng’ and Mugambi — have played well.
Mugambi was the highest scorer with 17 points, Okwiri managed 16, while Wafula added 15. There has also been unimpressive performances from Dan Daiko, Moses Shida, Patrick Kirui and Otiso.
Off the pitch, the general consensus in Kigali is that Rwanda are likely to dominate the regional scene in the next few years, considering the kind of support the Government is giving their national team. The Rwandese Government is fully behind their teams in this Zone Five All Africa Games qualifiers played at the Amahoro Petit Stadium.
The Prime Minister led five ministers in rooting for the team during their 75-64 win over Kenya on Tuesday. And after the victory, the Government gave the players a total of 5 million francs (about Sh714,000).

Kenya 95-24 Burundi (women)
Kenya 101-85 Burundi (men)
Ethiopia 69-108 Egypt (men)
Today
Kenya v Rwanda (women)
Egypt v Kenya (men)


Amahoro Petit Stade is set to host what is expected to be an intriguing encounter today when the unbeaten Egyptians clash with Kenya.
Kenya’s men national basketball team is expected to play its heart out as it struggles to keep its hope of travelling to Algeria for the All Africa Games qualifiers/Zone V Basketball Championships alive.
Kenya, who have won two games one against Burundi and Ethiopia; and lost to Rwanda, is expected to have the Kigali crowd’s support behind them as they face the mighty Egyptian side that is yet to lose a game at this week long competition.
Despite the victory, Kenya was made to stay on her toes until the final quarter when she finally managed to wrap up a 101-85 victory over the Burundians.
The local fans will be hoping that Kenya upsets the Pharaohs because much as victory keeps Kenya on the road to Algeria, it also broadens Rwanda’s quest to be part of the continent’s biggest sports bonanza.
Egypt who from day one expressed their intentions as far as being part of this sport’s bonanza is concerned, were still unstoppable yesterday as they sealed their third victory of the competition with a 108-69 win over Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, in the ladies’ category, Kenya continued with her build-ups for the Algeria event with an effortless 95-24 victory over Burundi. The score is Kenya’s highest at the competition.
It was Kibaki’s side’s third consecutive victory of the competition and unquestionably gave Kenya a gate-pass to the 2007 All Africa Games.
It could be a consolation for the Kenyan nationals if the men’s team fails to make it for the competitions. Rwanda gets back into action tomorrow morning with the closing game of the week-long competition against Burundi.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

Kenya v Burundi (men)
Ethiopia v Egypt (men)
Kenya v Burundi (women)

Egypt have their eyes set on today’s clash with Ethiopia as they plot to seal their third consecutive triumph at the on-going All Africa Games qualifiers/Zone V basketball championship.
After picking convincing victories over hosts Rwanda and Burundi, the event’s favourites are expected to have an easy evening against a side that is yet to register a win at the competition.
Ethiopia have succeeded in being mere participants rather than competing at this championship, conceding successive defeats at the hands of Kenya, Burundi and hosts Rwanda.
Egypt, who has expressed dissatisfactions with the event organisers (Ferwaba ) after they were yesterday forced to vacate the Alpha Palace Hotel, following Rwanda Bureau of Standards reports that the hotel’s sanitation levels were below standards, need a win to seal their dream of qualifying for the All Africa Games.
The Egyptian side w as yesterday moved to La Pallisse Club, about one and half kilometres from the competition venue. The hotel is expected to accommodate the Pharaohs to last day of the event.
Rwanda Bureau of Standards reports, comes in the wake of the national women team’s stomach-ache and feverish complaints, following what described as food poisoning from the same facility.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

By Dann O’were in Kigali

Kenya’s chances of qualifying for the ninth All Africa Games got a jolt when Rwanda stunned them 75-64 in a hard fought match at Amahoro Petit Stadium.
This means Kenya must beat Egypt on Thursday to have a mathematical chance of qualifying. Rwanda’s Canadian-based Hamza Muhezamihigo hit the opening three-pointer and the victors were on the driving seat for a 23-5 first quarter advantage.
In the second quarter, Kenya put up a mediocre performance as Rwanda roared on, going to the break with a comfortable 42-26 lead.
Coach Ronny Owino changed tactics after the breather, assigning Simon Mugambi to check dangerous Hamza.
He kept him scoreless as Kenya roared to a 47-37 margin. It was Ancette Wafula who ignited this superb run as he scored eight points.
The raid continued as the last quarter began with Dan Gaiko hitting a basket for 49-51 and Yoni Wanambiro scoring to lock the duel for the first time at 51-51.
Cliff Ochieng swished a three-ponter and Kenya celebrated their first lead at 54-53 inside five minutes. Kenya failed to respond losing the tie in the last minute when Hamza raced for a dunk before a three pointer by Uwineza sealed their fate.

Wafula scored 16 points, Ochieng 11, while Gaiko had 10.

Kenya . . . . . . . .96 Rwanda . . . . . . . 40

Kenya whipped Rwanda 96-40 in the women’s encounter. They led 46-40 at the breather. Hilda Luvandwa led with 16 points, Samba Mjoba connected for 14, Volnet Wanyama 13, while 12 each from Gladys Wanyana and Angela Okoth. Burundi beat Ethiopia 87-70, Rwanda whipped Ethiopia 107-78 and Egypt beat Burundi 73-44 in other matches.

Meanwhile, Kenyans captured two seats during the Zone Five General Assembly elections in Kigali on Friday.

Former Kenya Basketball Federation chairman, Morris Aluanga, was elected president unopposed, while KBF secretary Vitalis Gode got the secretary’s post. Former boss Abdel Sharraf declined to seek re-election, but was picked as honorary president.

FEDERATION of Burundi Basketball Association has moved the East and Central Africa basketball club championships from April to August in Bujumbura.
The decision was reached after the Burundi weather forecast revealed that April would be a month of heavy rains.
"We have only outdoor courts which cannot be used in rainy conditions, a situation that has prompted us to move the championships forward to August," Burundi basketball vice-chairman Alexis Songomwa noted.Uganda will be represented by 2006 league winners Nkumba-Marines and Lady Bucks at the event.

Meanwhile, it was mixed fortunes for hosts Rwanda as the Zone V All Africa Games qualifiers started in Kigali last weekend.

The men's team lost 82-66 to tournament favourites Egypt before the women's team restored the country's pride and hopes of qualifying with a 66-49 win over Burundi.

By Sande Bashaija
Kampala

THE newly elected Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) executive has inherited debts amounting to US$2100 ( Shs4m). The debts came as a result of failure to pay affiliation fees to the Federation of International Basketball Associations (Fiba).
Tom Ocamringa, the Fuba General Secretary revealed to Daily Monitor yesterday that the federation has never paid affiliation fees since 2001.
"Every year we are supposed to pay $100 but the past two regimes never honoured their obligations. The breakdown of communication between Fuba and Fiba has further compounded the issue but we are going to rectify it," he said.
Last year Fuba got its debts dating from early '80s to 2000 waived after the then federation vice president Peninah Kabenge pleaded with Fiba officials at the World Congress in Tokyo, Japan.
And Ocamringa noted: "There is no chance that Fiba will waive the debts again. We just have to make sure we solicit funds from as many places as posible and pay."

The works of construction of a sports pavilion in Angola's Huambo city (centre) have already started.

The pavilion is one of the courts to host the African Championship of Nations of male Basketball, "Afrobasket'-2007", scheduled to take place next August in Angola.
The Chinese company in charge of the construction works, in the initial phase, told Angop Wednesday that the cleaning works at the site where the pavilion will be constructed are underway, with the demolition of infant recreational centre and some nearby sports infrastructures.
The source stated that the construction of the pavilion will start in the first half of March.
The USD 8 million infrastructure, with a capacity to accommodate 2,000 spectators, will count on swimming pools, shops, health and leisure centres, press room and the like.The works are expected complete 15 days ahead of the start of the competition.
Angola, with eight titles has already hosted the competitions twice (1989 and 1999).
Apart from Huambo, other provinces selected to host the games include Benguela, Cabinda and Huíla.

A special basketball tournament which is staged in loving memory of the late Pa Modou Sarr, a former basketballer, will kick off today at the Serrekunda West Mini-stadium, Observer Sports can reveal.

The much-anticipated tournament will gather eight basketball teams, mainly from The Gambia Disability Sports Association, to compete for the coveted title.
Prior to the championship, the family members of the deceased, yesterday presented basketball equipment to The Gambia Disability Sports Association in a successful build up to this year's championship.

Presenting the outfits to association, Mr Andrew Jatta, a family member said they were very much delighted with the performance of the GDSA teams in last year's championship, a scenario that prompted them to again throw their weight behind another edition. He said that the donated items are meant to prepare the participating teams for the year's championship. He hailed Mr Samba Faal, the former SoS for Youth and Sports for sponsoring this year's trophy.Receiving the items, Mr Adrian Mills, a member of The Gambia Disability Sports Association thanked the Sarr family for what he described as a 'magnanimous gesture' towards his association. He said such a memorial tourney will not only help the loved ones remember the deceased but will go a long way to promote basketball in the country.
Suntu Jabang, the Vice President of the Gambia Disability Sports Association also expressed similar sentiments and called on the general public to throw their weight behind them.

The late Pa Modou was a promising basketballer before his untimely death in 2004 in United States.

BOTSWANA have withdrawn from the Zone Six Basketball championships to be hosted by Zimbabwe next month.


The championships, which will be used as joint preliminaries for the 2007 All Africa Games and the Africa Cup of Nations, are set to run from February 26 to March 3.
Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) acting chairman Addison Chiware said only six countries will be participating at the games.
“I have just been informed by the Federation International de Basketball (FIBA) that Botswana will not be part of the contestants.
“The country’s withdrawal from the championships has also resulted in a change of the dates it is now going to start as we are going to start two days later than the scheduled date,” said Chiware.
Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia have all confirmed taking part at the games. Despite Botswana’s pull-out, Chiware was confident the tournament would be a success.
Malawi will be making a return to international competition after almost 20 years in obscurity.
Two top teams, one men’s and the other from women will represent the Southern African region at the All Africa Games and the Nations Cup to be hosted by Algeria and Angola respectively.
Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying for the finals of both tournaments are bright especially given that Angola, who posed the biggest threat, will not be involved in the preliminaries.
Angola automatically qualified for both tournaments by virtue of being the defending champions of the All Africa Games and hosts of the Africa Nations Cup.
Senegal will host the women’s tournament in August.

Burundi 87-70 Ethiopia (men)
Rwanda 40-96 Kenya (Women)
Rwanda 75-64 Kenya (men)

Rwanda kept her hopes of competing in this year’s All Africa Games Championships scheduled for Algeria alive, following yesterday’s vital 75-64 win over Kenya at Amahoro Petit stade.
With a huge crowd behind their backs, the home team started in modest mood, dominating play, ending the first two quarters with commanding 23-15 and 42-26 scores respectively.
However, Kenya turned the heat on the home side in the third quarter, narrowing the gap to a marginal two points to give the crowd as well as team Coach Jean de Dieu Nizeyimana restless evening.
Rwanda’s unconvincing performance came after its star pivot Thompson Robert was withdrawn from the game with a sprained toe, which could as well be a major blow to the host’s team in their next game against Burundi on tomorrow.
However, Rwanda’s shooting guard Hamza Ruhezamihigo who was on top of his game against Ethiopia came to the home side’s rescue with a much-needed six points in the final two minutes to seal the home side’s victory.
A combination of his dribbling, passing skills and three- point shots were too much for the Kenyan side to handle, especially in the dying minutes of the game.
The win was a sign that the local team had finally landed her winning ways since losing to Egypt on the opening day of the competition.
Rwanda has now registered two victories, a convincing one against Ethiopia 107-78 and a hard-earned one against the Kenyans.
Rwanda will now be hoping that Kenya upsets Egypt if it’s to have any tangible hopes of engaging in the continental event.
The victory was warmly welcomed by Rwanda’s female side who had earlier on suffered an embarrassing 96-40 defeat at the hands of their Kenyan counterparts.
Today, Rwanda’s ladies will be looking to console themselves on the Burundian side that is yet to win a game at the on-going competition.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

By Dann O’Werre in Kigali

Kenya national women’s side crushed Burundi 88-31 in their opening All Africa Games qualifying match played at Amahoro Petit Stadium.

The victors launched raids straight from the start as a Millicent Anyango’s shot glanced off the rim.

Shortly afterwards, Gladys Wanyama scored the opener after connecting on a rebound off a miss by Eunice Ouma.

Caroline Achieng’ then followed with two free shots before Wanyama got on the mark again. Claudette Mugwaneza responded with a three-pointer for Burundi, but Anyango added more free shots as Kenya easily costed to a 26-5 score at the first quarter break.

In the second quarter, Wanyama, Holda Luvandwa and Joyce Makungu hit the target at will making the scores 51-11 at the end of the first half. Despite a tough third quarter, the visitors still won it 14-9.

Kalume Florence, the Burundian guard was the darling of the crowd as she mesmerised Kenyans with her amazing dribbles, but they still trailed 11-23 in the last quarter.

Luvandwa led with 17 points, Makungu connected for 15, Wanyama managed 10, while Rebecca Sarange chipped in with nine. Burundi had 11 from Kalume.

This easy win confirmed that Kenya would book a ticket to Pan Africa Games in Algeria in July. The two sides will meet again as the three teams play each other twice.

Meanwhile, the East and Central Africa club championships slated for Bujumbura, Burundi, in April have now been pushed forward, host organisers confirmed on Tuesday.

The revelation was made by Federation Basketball du Burundi (Febabu) vice-president Alexis Songomwa during an interview with SportFest at the Amahoro Petit Stadium.

He said that long rains in April will not make it possible to have the tournament, saying it has been decided that they be moved to August.

THE national men and women’s basketball teams were in uncompromising mood over the weekend after they trashed their Zambian counterparts in their two respective friendly international matches.


The men’s team, coached by Ronald Garura, won their two matches against the Zambians 54-47 on Saturday before completing the back-to-back wins on Sunday with a narrow 55-53 margin.
In the women’s matches, Zimbabwe won the first match 72-44 on Saturday night before sending the visitors packing with a fine 73-54 win the next morning.
The friendly matches were being used as part of preparations for the All Africa Games Zone VI qualifying championships set for Harare from February 24 to March 3.
Captain Fadzai Mabasa led with precision and character stabilising the defensive and offensive players in her control role in the team.
Alice Machirori, Margaret Magwaro and Charity Mudimu also played well.
In the men’s team, Namibia-based duo of Mpumelelo Hlabangani and Brian Hore gave a good account of themselves with their stylish flare.
United States of America-based Elijah Moyo could not make the trip for the two matches but is now being expected in the country on February 16 for the Zone VI championships.
Another USA-based player Tawanda Nyashanu has been ruled out for the championships because of other commitments.
National women’s team coach Ngoni Makukula said he was satisfied with the performance of his team. “Our aim is to be in Algeria in July and we are leaving no stone unturned. The girls gelled well but I was expecting some tougher opposition. We know Zambia are stronger than what they showed us over the weekend,” said Makukula.

Kenya 88- 31 Burundi (women)
Egypt 73- 44 Burundi (men)

Kenyan women thumped Burundi 88-31 to register their presence at the on-going All Africa Games’ qualifiers/Zone V basketball championships in a game played at Amahoro Petit stade yesterday.
The Kenyans, clad in their famous national colour jerseys (red with green strips), fielded an experienced side, to command the game by exhibiting swift passes that resulted into baskets, and leading the first quarter 26-5.
The Kenyans, who have participated in bigger competitions in the past, enjoyed the game like they were at home, with the trio of Joyce Makungu, Angelo Okoth and Hilda Kuvandwa standing out of the crowd.
Burundi produced their best game’s performance in the final quarter making eleven points thanks to Francine Karume who single handedly split the Kenyan defence to score six points. But the Burundians (les Copines), who fell to Rwanda on Sunday, displayed an amateurism approach with minimal co-ordination, and later resorted to foul play which saw two of their players, Beatrice Mugisha and Diana Kamikazi, being fouled out.
Kenya took Burundi for coaching lessons in her maiden game of the tournament with a 50 point difference in the game whose final score stood at 88-31.
Kenya’s performance was a strong warning to Rwandans who face Kibaki’s girls today.
Meanwhile, the event’s favourites in the men’s category, Egypt stamped their authority onto Burundi’s men with 73-44 emphatic win at the same venue.
Ahmed Khaled scored game high 18 points while fellow team-mate Ramy Genedy came in with a handy 12. Burundi’s outstanding player Jacques Niyongabo piled 10 points for the side that has a lot to work on ahead of its clashes with Rwanda, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Meanwhile, half of the Rwandan women national basketball team is down with fever, coach Cliff Owuor, revealed yesterday.
The team, camping at Hello’s Corner is believed to have been hit by a strange disease after taking their meals at Alpha Palace.
“The girls were in perfect shape before and after the Burundi game but half of them developed stomach upsets moments after having their dinner,” Owuor told Times Sport.
The discouraging news is a blow, especially at a time when home fans were warming to watch their team challenge the competition’s favourites Kenya.
“We have a crucial game against Kenya tomorrow (today) and we have not trained the whole of today but I hope that we shall have time tomorrow morning to make some fast adjustments in our game plan if these players not recover on time,” Owuor continued.

By BETRAM LENGAMA

ABC basketball team qualified for the Dar es Salaam Regional Basketball League, popularly known as 'Kili RBA league', for this season with two games in hand before the second division league 'Dar Dream Cup' winds up.

ABC are in no doubt of taking part in this year's Kili RBA league season expected to throw off on July, even if they lose their two remaining games in the second division league which climaxes this weekend.
Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) Executive Director Mbaga Mwamboma told the 'Daily News' in the city yesterday that ABC have already booked their ticket for the Kili RBA league after winning all their previous games in ongoing Dar Dream Cup league despite having two games in hands.
According to Mwamboma, other teams, which stand a chance to be promoted for the Kili RBA league, sponsored by Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) through its Kilimanjaro Premium Lager brand, are Flelio, Oilers team B, PTW and Calvarias, which are behind ABC in the men's league standing.
Four teams will be promoted in the RBA league to replace Pazi, TM Rockects, TM Mkwawa and Magnet relegated from Kili RBA league last season.

In the ladies' category, PTW Stars and Polisi Barracks have also booked their place in the RBA league after topping their category, which involved only three teams. Both teams have one game in hand.
The tournament, conducted on league basis involving home and away games, comprises ABC, Magone, Polisi, TM Wizards, Yellow Jackets, Calvarias, UDSM Insiders, Flelio and Tan Black in men's discipline and PTW Stars, Polisi and CMTU in ladies' discipline.

L’équipe féminine de l’US Rail a enregistré sa première victoire en championnat national de première division en disposant du Diaraf sur son terrain du CAT de Thiès par dix points d’écart (60-50) lors de la troisième journée jouée le week-end.
L’US Rail, qui a enregistré deux défaites consécutives, à domicile face à l’ASCC Bopp (45-60) et en déplacement devant l’ASFO (53-46), a dépassé pour la première fois sa barre moyenne des 45 points. L’autre équipe féminine qui jouait à domicile, le Saint Louis basket club, a également pris le dessus sur son hôte du jour, le Basket club de Mbour (73-39).

Chez les garçons, l’Université de Saint Louis a créé la surprise en s’imposant face l’ASCC Bopp, une des équipes favorites de la présente saison par 12 points d’écart (69-57).
Le match US Louga-US Gorée s’est terminé par des incidents et n’a pu aller à son terme, a confié à l’APS, le chargé de la commission sportive de la fédération sénégalaise de basket Maguette Mbengue. Les autres matchs qui étaient prévus à Dakar n’ont pas pu se tenir faute de lieu de compétition. Le stadium Marius Ndiaye est fermé à la compétition depuis le 1er février et le terrain d’Iba Mar Diop n’est pas encore disponible.

Résultats Dames : US Rail-Jaraaf (60-50), SLBS- Mbour BC (67-39)

Garçons : UGB-Bopp (69-57), US Louga-Gorée (inachevé)

Rwanda 66-82 Egypt (men)
Rwanda 66-49 Burundi (Women)
Kenya 80-54 Ethiopia (Men)
Today
Burundi v Kenya (Women) 14:00
Egypt v Burundi (Men) 16:00
Ethiopia v Rwanda (Men) 18:00

It was a mixed fortune for Rwanda as the All Africa Games qualifiers/Zone V Basketball Championships started at Amahoro Petit stade, Kigali at the weekend.
The men’s national team lost 66-82 to the competition’s favourites, Egypt on Saturday, before the women restored the country’s pride and hopes of qualifying, with a 66-49 win over Burundi yesterday.
The week-long competition that has attracted only five countries, out of the expected 10, will have the champions of each of the men and women category qualify for the July’s All Africa Games’ event to be hosted in Algiers, Algeria.
Rwanda’s post player Francine Karigiho was instrumental in restoring a smile on the local fans’ faces, topping the scoring chart with 14 points; one over Claudette Mugwaneza who picked a handy 13 to seal the side’s vital victory.
Despite the win, the national women’s coach Cliff Owuor still believes that the side was not at its best.
“It’s good that we won but we should have done it more convincingly. We were not in position to pass the ball right and were weak at converting baskets. We have to rectify this in time for the Kenyan game,” he said.
The Rwandan women meet Kenya tomorrow in a tie expected to be crucial, as it determines the category’s silverware.
Kenya will march into the game as favourites following their vast experience at the sport on the continent.
Action in the men’s category continues today with two games on the card. Egypt opens the day against Burundi, before Rwanda summing up the business with Ethiopia.
The Egyptian side that capitalised on its immense experience to take a nine-point first quarter lead against Rwanda on Saturday might still exploit the same against Burundi today.
The first quarter of the Saturday game produced low scores as it ended 17-8 in favour of the Pharaohs. Both sides exhibited more aggression after recess but still Egypt was the better side, thanks to their influential guard Ahmed Monir who converted 14 points. The third and fourth quarters seemed even but Egypt again capitalised to their shooting to successfully register their first victory.
Rwanda’s three-point weapon Hamza Ruhezamihigo, who is based in Canada, was the outstanding player as he continuously narrowed the day’s margin. Ruhezamihigo top scored with 15 points.
The Egyptian coach Adel-Abdel-Fatah commended the Rwandan team for putting up a spirited fight, saying the country was destined for a brighter future at the sport.
“We were playing them (Rwanda) for the first time but they held their nerves and put up a spirited fight. The umpires were also outstanding. They controlled the game without being influenced by the home crowd which was very professional,” said Fatah.
Despite the loss, with a 16-point difference, the Rwandan coach Jean de Dieu Nizeyimana was happy with his team’s performance, saying the result was encouraging.
“The score has instilled morale and confidence in my players. We don’t intend to lose any more points. We are certain that the next time we meet Egypt, today’s gap will be bridged,’ he said.
The tournament will be played on a round-robin basis after Uganda’s last minute exit from the competition, left only five teams. The Ugandans cited lack of funds for their withdrawal.
Uganda is bound to face a (International Basketball Federation) Fiba penalty following her exit according to a Ferwaba sources that preferred anonymity.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

A TANZANIAN has been picked to head the Zone Five Basketball Committee for Disabled following the elections that were held in Kigali, Rwanda over the weekend.

Lawrence Cheyo, who is the Secretary General of the Tanzania Basketball Federation TBF), was elected by the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) Africa Congress in Kigali.
Kenyan Moris Aluanga was elected President of FIBA, Africa Zone Five, while Magdi Abdou from Egypt was elected the Vice-President. The Secretary- General post went to Kenyan Vitalis Gode.
The technical committee would be under Magdi Abdou (Egypt), while Francis Mulindabigini (Rwanda) would head the Competitions Committee.
The women and youth Committee went to Ambrose Tashobega of Uganda, as Abdulkadir Abdullah of Ethiopia will take charge of legal committee. The general meeting involved various countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and hosts Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Rwandan President Paul Kagame officially opened the Zone Five Challenge Trophy on Saturday at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali. The opening match pitted the hosts against the four time winners Egypt.
The tournament is expected to wind up on Saturday. Winners will secure the ticket to compete in the All African Games set for Algiers, Algeria in July this year.

By Dann O’Werre in Kigali

Kenya men posted an easy 80-54 win over Ethiopia in their opening Zone Five All Africa Games qualifying match at the Amahoro Peti Stadium.
It was Ethiopia who made the first basket as Ebrahim Abubeka nailed a three pointer. David Otiso and Dan Gaiko’s points saw Kenya lead 4-3 only for Ethiopia to tie it 6-6 and 8-8.
Ancette Wafula hit two baskets and Yoni Wamabiro another gave Kenya a 17-14 advantage before Cliff Ochieng shot took the teams to a first quarter break at 19-14 with a shot.
When play resumed after two minutes breather, Dan Daiko slam ignited a furious onslaught and a Ben Olouch three-pointer saw both teams going to the break leading 38-27.
After resumption, a 12 points spurt saw Kenya build an unassailable 50-27 margin. Then a long range Ochieng three pointer at the buzzer gave the victors a 61-36 lead at the end of the third quarter.
It was all too easy in the last quarter with Ethiopia battling to make the scoreline respectable. Man-of-the-match Wafula led the side with 24 points that included three pointers.
Oluoch scored 11 while Wanambiro and Okwirri combined for 17. Ebrahi Abubaker was the only player hitting double figures for Ethiopia, making 11.
Coach Ronny Owino was satisfied with the win but said: "We had to go easy as we are not ready to release our full arsenal to Egypt and Rwanda."
In another match, hosts Rwanda fell 66-82 to Egypt in the opening game on Saturday. Rwanda shot up 2-0 before a downpour that interrupted the fixtures for over 30 minutes.

In the ladies match, Rwanda survived a scare before winning 56-49 over Burundi.

In the men's final, USIU Tigers mauled Kenya College of Accountancy-KCA 48-24 after holding them scoreless in the last quarter. The game tipped on a promising note, as the teams traded baskets as both end to tie 10-10 after the first quarter. However, things fell apart for KCA come the second quarter as Tigers ran wild going on a 12-0 run early in the quarter, taking a 22-10 lead through Abel Nson, Rocky Otieno, Victor Odendo and Harrison Omondi, prompting KCA coach to call for a time out. On resumption, Tigers maintained their form, going up 42-24 in the third quarter, as KCA struggled to stay afloat through Imba Daniel, Arnold Muoki, and Sinda. Nson had 9, Odhiambo 8 for tigers, While Imba and Muoki combined for 12 points for KCA.

Awards:

Men's Winners: USIU Tigers
Men's Runners UP: Kenya College of Accountancy-KCA
Men's 2 nd Runners UP: KCITI Wildcats
Most Promising Player: Hasim Ahmed KSPS College
Most Valuable Player: Papillion Odhiambo USIU-Tigers (R)

The UCBL League Officially tips-off on February 10th at Strathmore University Basketball courts from 9:00 am

KCITI Ladycats overcame hosts USIU Flames 33-29 in a tense final that had tied five times. The game had tipped off to a slow start with USIU going up 06-02 after the first quarter. KCITI managed to shrug off the fatigue, bouncing back to go on a 10-04 run in the second quarter to take a 12-10 advantage after the break after good runs from Brenda Angeshi, Doreen Minala, Anastasia Njeri and Jackie Tindi. The third quarter was livelier as both teams traded baskets at both ends, with USIU closing in at 17-18 after an Evelyn Sande 3-pointer. Flames maintained their offensive plays tying the game at 18-18, 20-20 after breaks by Sally Bosire. However, KCITI managed to hang on the lead through Angeshi who put them up 22-21 at the end of the quarter. The final quarter saw both teams come out all fired up, with Quenter Ramogi tying the game for USIU at 27-27 before Brenda Odula put them up 29-27 after a base jumper. Their lead was however short-lived as towering KCITI centre Doreen Minala sunk back-to-back baskets with a minute to go for the win. Njeri shot 9 points and Minala added 6 for Ladycats, as Sande and Odula combined for 11 points for USIU Flames.
Awards:

Ladies Winners: KCITI Ladycats
Ladies Runners UP: USIU Flames
Ladies 2 nd Runners UP: Strathmore University
Most Promising Player: Sarah Chan- USIU Flames
Most Valuable Player- Brenda Angeshi- KCITI Ladycats (R)