19 December 2007
ZIMBABWE : Four-Nation Basketball Tourney Bursts Into Life
Paul Munyuki
Harare
THE sixth edition of the four-nation basketball tournament featuring Namibia, Botswana Zambia and Zimbabwe bursts into life at the City Sports today with the hosts upbeat about their chances of winning the championships.
Men and women's teams from the four nations are expected to take part in the three-day competition dubbed the Zinaboza tournament.
Zambia hosted the previous two editions of the games and this year the Basketball Association of Zimbabwe took it upon themselves to host the tournament.
The games will be played on a round-robin basis as there are only four teams in each of the categories.
By yesterday, all the teams had confirmed their participation and BUZ tournament co-ordinator and administrator Simon Lawson said preparations were at an advanced stage.
"All the teams have confirmed their participation for the games and we are expecting the visitors to be in the country by this evening (last night) as the games are starting on Wednesday afternoon.
"The games will be at the City Sports Centre and will be running from 12noon until around 9.30pm for the three days," said Lawson.
The Zimbabwe teams went into full camp yesterday but the women's preparations were affected by the absence of some of their players who were on tour in South Africa with JBC.
The six national team players who travelled with JBC are Sibongile Mkandla, Juliet Misihairabwi, Fadzai Mabasa, Isabel Tengende and Varsity's Alex Maseko who travelled as a guest player.
"The women's camp started a bit late because there are some players who had travelled to South Africa with JBC but they are back now and everything is going on well and the final teams will be named before the games start," said Lawson.
Harare
THE sixth edition of the four-nation basketball tournament featuring Namibia, Botswana Zambia and Zimbabwe bursts into life at the City Sports today with the hosts upbeat about their chances of winning the championships.
Men and women's teams from the four nations are expected to take part in the three-day competition dubbed the Zinaboza tournament.
Zambia hosted the previous two editions of the games and this year the Basketball Association of Zimbabwe took it upon themselves to host the tournament.
The games will be played on a round-robin basis as there are only four teams in each of the categories.
By yesterday, all the teams had confirmed their participation and BUZ tournament co-ordinator and administrator Simon Lawson said preparations were at an advanced stage.
"All the teams have confirmed their participation for the games and we are expecting the visitors to be in the country by this evening (last night) as the games are starting on Wednesday afternoon.
"The games will be at the City Sports Centre and will be running from 12noon until around 9.30pm for the three days," said Lawson.
The Zimbabwe teams went into full camp yesterday but the women's preparations were affected by the absence of some of their players who were on tour in South Africa with JBC.
The six national team players who travelled with JBC are Sibongile Mkandla, Juliet Misihairabwi, Fadzai Mabasa, Isabel Tengende and Varsity's Alex Maseko who travelled as a guest player.
"The women's camp started a bit late because there are some players who had travelled to South Africa with JBC but they are back now and everything is going on well and the final teams will be named before the games start," said Lawson.
# posted by afrbk : 09:45
