Basketball in Africa

It was be divine providence that reigning Nigeria national women league champion, First Bank basketball club of Lagos escape defeat in the hands of Delta Force basketball club of Asaba in the opening day of the First Deepwater Discovery Battle for Supremacy Basketball tournament holding at the Sports Hall of the University of Lagos Sports Centre, Akoka, Lagos.

The Lateef Folami tutored Asaba, Delta State-based Force led the floor right from the blast of the referees’ whistle only to bow in the last quarter after winning comfortably in the first three quarters (17-15, 15-09, 14-12 and 10-21) to the Adewumi Aderemi coached First Bank Elephant Girls.

Delta Force inspirational guard, Magdalene Mukato led the floor with 18 points and 5 rebounds while her teammate Nkechi Akashile poured in 13 points and 4 rebounds, First Bank Vera Angwe led her teammates with 12 points, forward Ezine James added 10 points and 3 rebounds while Nigeria Senior Women national team forward, Chioma Udeaja grabbed 9 rebounds to redeem the image of the banker who won with just one point margin of 57-56.

First Bank also narrowly beat Delta Force on the board with a total 39 rebounds to Delta 35.

…Yusuf 29 points failed Pillars as Union Bank romp to 83-79 points win

Ibrahim Adamu Yusuf was spectacular in his side Kano Pillars basketball club 83-79 points lose to Union Bank basketball club of Lagos in the second game of the First Deepwater Discovery Battle for Supremacy tournament.

The Stallion boys were clearly ahead in the first three quarters of the tension soaked battle for supremacy having lost twice to the Pillars this season (21-19, 25-12 and 24-21) with Ibrahim inspiring the Pillars back to reckoning in the last quarter with a big win of 27-15 but this late rally was not enough to serve the day for them as they bow to the bankers by 83-79 points to set up a day-2 game against Niger Potters basketball club of Minna.

Ibrahim Yusuf led the floor with 29 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists while the duo of Haruna Maitama and Matthew Omoniya added 18 and 15 points respectively.

Kingsley Aguara led the Union Bank challenge with 14 points and 4 rebounds, Pierre Ebongue contributed 13 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steal just as the duo of Baba Jibril and Michael Ani added 12 and 10 points respectively with Michael Ohiero giving 5 assists.

Union Bank will take on fellow Atlantic conference club, Ebun Comets basketball club with a view of paying them back in their coin after suffering a 2-1 record in the hands of the Ayo Bakare tutored Comets.

….Bad day for Sunshine bow to Dolphins 54-41

The hope of Sunshine Angels basketball club of Akure to clinch the star-prize money of the First Deepwater Discovery Battle for Supremacy suffers a huge set back on the opening day as Wale Aboderin Dolphins handed the Coach Andrew Isokpehi girls the biggest defeat of the day of 54-41 points.

Dolphins won three of the quarters leaving the ‘Angels’ from Akure with just one (11-10, 06-16, 21-03 and 16-12).

Dolphins battle First Bank in the last game of Day-2 of the tournament while Sunshine and Delta Force slug it out in the second match of the day.

…Potters edge past Comets 66-56

Niger Potters basketball club and Nigeria senior national men team guard, Abubakar Usman led his team onslaught against Ebun Comets basketball club of Lagos in the first day of hostility of the First Deepwater Discovery Battle fro Supremacy tournament with a 66-56 points win.

Usman scored a double double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assist to send warning signal to other would-be title contenders.

Potters showed that they are in Lagos for business as they dominated the game in all four quarters with Comets always struggling from behind (15-13, 14-13, 10-07 and 27-23).

Potters who also beat the Ayo Bakare tutored Comets on the board with 37 rebounds against Comets 22 will today confront Pillars in a grudge game having lost to the Pillars by 59-58 points in a premier league pairing in Minna.

Comets youthful guard Deji Egbeyemi led his teammates with 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Day-1 Results:
First bank 57-56 Delta Force
Union Bank 83-79 Kano Pillars
Dolphins 54-41 Sunshine Angels
Ebun Comets 56-66 Niger Potters

Day-2 Games:
Niger Potters Vs Kano Pillars
Sunshine Angels Vs Delta Force
Union Bank Vs Ebun Comets
First Bank Vs Dolphins

Day-3 Games:
First Bank Vs Sunshine Angels
Ebun Comets Vs Kano Pillars
Dolphins Vs Delta Force
Union Bank Vs Niger Potters

By Olusegun Ikuesan

Niger Potters basketball club of Minna showed the stuff it is made up when it tear apart Kano Pillars basketball club to record its second straight win by 83-61 points in the First Deepwater Discovery Battle for Supremacy Basketball Tournament holding at UNILAG Sports Centre, Akoka.

Potters who on Thursday defeated Ebun Comets basketball club by 66-56 points will meet Union bank basketball club today (Saturday) in the decider for the winner-take-all prize money of .N5M.

Potters inspirational guard Abubakar Usman had a good game in the second day running scoring 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steal and 2 assist to lift the 2007 FIBA Africa Champions Club Cup fifth placed team over Savannah conference rival Pillars.
Usman was joined on the scorer chat by Abubakar Yusuf who led the floor with 23 points, Sati Paul added 13 points and 4 rebounds while Shehu Mohammed grabbed 8 rebounds and one block-shot.
Pillars was once again led in scoring by its playmaker, Ibrahim Adamu Yusuf with 20 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steal, compatriot Haruna Maitama contributed 16 points just as Ahmed Danmama grabbed 7 rebounds for the Savannah conference top side who takes on Ebun Comets basketball club today in the race for the third place.
Potters was greater at the board with 42 rebounds as against Pillars 26.

...Delta Force shove aside Sunshine 58-45 points, battle Dolphins

Delta Force basketball club of Asaba put behind them the narrow lose to First Bank basketball club on Day-1 of the battle for Supremacy tournament to shove aside challenges from Sunshine Angels basketball club of Akure by 58-45 points.
The Lateef Erinfolami girls won in three of the four quarters (14-11, 10-14, 19-08 and 15-12) to set up battle for the second spot against Dolphins basketball club having conceded the top spot to First Bank basketball club.
Magdalene Mukato once again led her teammate in scoring with 12 points, 4 assists, 3 steal and 2 rebounds, Ogor Bolum added 10 points and 6 rebounds while Memuna Fuludu grabbed 7 rebounds.
Sunshine Becky Iritie had 19 points and 4 rebounds to her credit while Korede Sosanya grabbed 7 rebounds.
Delta Force proved a better side on the board picking up 46 rebounds at both offense and defense while Sunshine had 32 rebounds.

...Union Bank survive Comets onslaught, confront Potters for title

The local derby between Union Bank basketball club and Ebun Comets basketball club Friday lived up to its rating as both sides gave the fans a good match to cheer.
While Union Bank basketball club bank on its array of stars to do the job Comets on the other hand relied on the plays from its bench to rattle the stallion boys.
The four quarters was won evenly with Union Bank coming from a 13-10 points down in the first quarter to pick the second quarter by 13-08 thus gaining a two points advantage going into the break.
Comets again charged back in the third quarter to even scores at the close of the quarter with a 17-15 points win to go into the last quarter on a level ground.
The last quarter proved rather more exciting as both side take on each other like a wounded lions recording points for points fouls for fouls, with time tickling away. And just as an over-time seems to be in the offing Comets guard, Orseer Ikyaato committed a foul with the buzzer shot clock about to sound off the game with Daniel Daudu perfectly scored the resultant free throws to give victory to his side by 56-54 points.
Union Bank off-guard Azuoma Dike led floor with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steal, kingsley Aguara added 12 points and 3 rebounds while forward Malik Tella grabbed 8 rebounds.
Comets captain and point guard, Orseer Ikyaato led his teammates with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Deji Egbeyemi contributed 11 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds just as Obum Ekpete grabbed 7 rebounds.

. ..First Bank confirm rating beat Dolphins 67-54

First Bank basketball club of Lagos Friday confirm her rating as the number one women club in Nigeria with an emphatic 67-54 points victory over Dolphins basketball club also of Lagos.
The Elephant Girls had succumbed to a 13-12 points lose in the first quarter to the Wale Aboderin Dolphins but came back into the game strongly in the second quarter throughout the duration of the game to out-scored its opponent (23-15, 17-13 and 15-13) to seal victory leaving Dolphins and Delta Force to fight for the second spot today (Saturday).
The Adewumi Aderemi tutored Elephant Girls will battle bottom placed Sunshine Angels in a formality match today (Saturday).


Day-2 Results:
Niger Potters 83-61 Kano Pillars
Sunshine Angels 45-58 Delta Force
Union Bank 56-54 Ebun Comets
First Bank 67-54 Dolphins

Day-3 Games:
First Bank Vs Sunshine Angels
Ebun Comets Vs Kano Pillars
Dolphins Vs Delta Force
Union Bank Vs Niger Potters

by Olusegun Ikuesan

A century win against Razors has helped Angels stop a two-game losing skid.

On Wednesday at Victoria Gymnasium, Angels followed the century trend set by defending champions PLS Hawks and Baya as they collected a 113-64 victory against Razors.
The Anse Boileau-based team now boast an even win-lose record of 7-7, bringing their points tally to 21, the same as Premium Cobras who have three games in hand on them and two on the top three teams – PLS Hawks (25 points for 12 wins and a loss), Baya (24 points for 11 wins and two losses) and MBU Rockers (22 points for nine wins and four losses).

Angels had lost their previous two matches, against RC Dynamics (73-77) and Baya (87-116).
As for Razors, they have temporarily left the foot of the 10-team table as they have 14 points after 13 matches played compared to Beau Vallon Heat’s 13 after 12 outings. The Heat’s match on Praslin against Praslin Warriors was postponed last Saturday because of bad weather.
In the Men’s Division Two, AAP Brothers are in the driver’s seat after beating RA Rockets 66-47 on Tuesday at Victoria Gymnasium.
They have 26 points after collecting their 12th win in 14 games played. Mont Fleuri Dawgz can return to the top when they play the RA Rockets today at 5.15pm at Victoria Gymnasium.
Like the Dawgz, Anse Etoile can also move on to 27 points if they beat Cadets tomorrow.

G. G.

by Sande Bashaija
Kampala

RESULT
Kigezi 26-51 Bugema (Boys)
Girls
Kigezi 10-67 St. Michael
Ssaku 27-33 Bugema
Eagles 42-38 St. Michael

Not even the top prize can entice the Bugema Adventist School boys’ team to play a basketball game as long as it’s on a Saturday.

It’s their Sabbath Day, which requires them not to engage in any physical activity unless it comes late in the evening.
Yet the Bugema team has qualified for the semifinals of the ongoing Sprite Schools Cup due tomorrow at Kigezi High School, Kabale.
“I hope the technical committee rescinds the decision and put the semis on Friday (today). The boys have to go to church on Saturday because faith comes first,” Bugema coach John Omondi told Daily Monitor yesterday.
Last year’s losing finalists Eagles Nest, Ssaku Secondary School, and St. Michael, are the teams that have made the penultimate stage.
The last group games, to decide the semifinal fixtures, are due this morning but none of the four teams will lose its place. “We want to give players time to rest tomorrow (today) afternoon that’s why the semis and finals will be played Saturday,” basketball official Peter Kirabo said. “If the Bugema team doesn’t turn up for the game, that’s a loss by forfeiture.” Last year, Bugema also skipped their third-place play-off game.
Meanwhile, Maryhill, St. Michael, Lubiri and defending champions Eagles Nest, made the semifinals in the girls category.

An 18-man delegation of the national U-16 female basketball team left the country yesterday, August 28, for the Republic of Benin to participate in the African Female Youth Basketball Championship.
The delegation is being headed by the Director of Sports at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Navarro Sackie. Other members of the delegation include Fred Pratt, Secretary General of the Liberia Basketball Federation; Solomon George, Head Coach; Abraham B.S. Johnson, Deputy Coach; Roland Lawrence, Trainer and Thomas Sonpon, Medic.
Players making the trip are Love Paul, Clarice Barcon and Esi Jallah of the K-Deltas Basketball Team; others are Laryome Gobah, Muna Kimber and Patience Ciapha of the Phoenix basketball team. Also on board for the competition are Cianna Smith of Survivor, Amaze Dean of Timberwolves, Taryonnoh Jlateh of Destiny Queens and Angela Walker of Rockers Angel Shooters and Rosemette Goodridge of Commission. The competition starts On August 29, 2008 and the four countries

by Samson Opus
Kabale

SSAKU SS and St. Michael SS Sonde in the boys category together with Lubiri High and St. Michael girls teams stormed the semi-finals of the Sprite schools basketball championship yesterday.
The four join Lubiri High and Maryhill girls teams, Eagles Nest SS and Bugema SDA boys teams that had earlier secured places at the last four stage of the annual competition.
The semis-finals are due tomorrow ahead of the finals the same day.

SCHOOLS BASKETBALL

Boys
Muntuyera 36 E. Nest 102
Kigezi 26 Bugema 51

Girls
E. Nest 57 Maryhill 35
Lubiri 25 Budo SS 58

by Sande Bashaija
Kabale

RESULTS
Lubiri 40-34 Bugema
Budo 50-12 Ssaku
Maryhill 91-06 Kigezi
Boys
Muntuyera 33-69 Bugema
Eagles 110-29 Kigezi

Hosts Kigezi High School (girls and boys) have been turned into punching bags in the ongoing Sprite Basketball League. Despite playing before the home crowd and showing desire for victory, Kigezi were blanked 91-06 by Mbarara’s Maryhill High School girls, a game that assured the later of a slot in the semifinals due later today.
Bridget Natukunda, who is being tipped to take the Most Valuable Player’s (MVP) award, scored 27 points and Patience Ankunda added 30 as Maryhill reduced the Kigezi team and their fans to tears, Tuesday evening on a soggy surface following an afternoon down power that interrupted play.
Ronah Nabimanya got four of the six points for the hosts in first quarter and the Kigezi fans celebrated all the baskets like is the norm after scoring in a soccer match.
For the proceeding two quarters, Kigezi never got the ball inside the ring and only sunk in two in the final session to end a miserable evening for the hosts. Maryhill, eliminated at the semifinal stage last year, are likely to take on Budo, who also made easy work of Ssaku from Wobulenzi 50-12.
“The team has improved a lot and we have our eyes on the title,” Maryhill coach Denis Katungi stated. Kigezi boys were meanwhile thrashed 110-29 by last year’s losing finalists Eagles Nest Secondary School in a game that later confirmed that no boy’s team from western Uganda, would progress to the penultimate stage.
Kigezi’s demise came shortly after another western region team-Muntuyera High School from Ntungamo had been beaten 69-33 by Bugema Adventist from Wakiso District. The race for the boy’s title is now left between Ssaku, St. Michael, Bugema and Eagles Nest.

By Oscar Pilipili In Kigali

Kenya inched closer to sweeping the board in basketball after all its teams qualified for the semi-finals of the East African Secondary Schools Championships in Kigali, Rwanda.
Maseno and Mombasa, who are the boys and girls defending champions, qualified alongside Laiser and Tigoi following their successful campaign at the group stages.
Maseno defeated St Michael of Uganda 69-39 to top Pool ‘A’ in unbeaten record. They play hosts St Joseph in the semi-finals at Jean Bosco in Gatange today.
Laiser Hill secured the leadership of Pool ‘B’ with one match against Green Hill of Uganda in hand. They play Magongo of Tanzania in the second semi-final match today. Rivals Mombasa and Tigoi were yet to know their opponents in the semi-finals after the last pool matches, which were yet to be played by the time of going to press.
Tigoi captain Hillavi Ayodi predicted an all-Kenyan affair in both boys and girls finals tomorrow.
Ayodi said: "Kenyan teams have displayed high standards of the game since the first day of the Championships."
"I’m certain that Maseno will meet Laiser Hill and Tigoi play Mombasa in the finals."
Mombasa captain Everline Adhiambo echoed Ayodi’s sentiments, saying the chances of Kenyans meeting in all basketball finals were high.
"Kenya has strong teams and what I know is that basketball trophies will still belong to Kenya," said Adhiambo. Mombasa beat St Vincent of Rwanda 117-14 and hit Don Bosco of Burundi 95-45 in their first two matches.
On Tuesday, Tigoi hammered Providence of Rwanda 102-24 in their opening match, and not the other way round as we erroneously reported yesterday.
Tigoi went ahead to dismiss Yambio of Southern Sudan 110-20 to sail through to the semi-finals.

by Pius Ayinor
Lagos

First Bank and Delta Force teams will take the first jump ball as the First Deepwater Discovery basketball tournament starts today in Lagos. The competition tagged the First Deepwater Discovery Battle for Supremacy will also offer three other matches on Day-one at the University of Lagos Sports Centre, Akoka. The match is billed to be played at 10.00am.
The opening game promises to be keenly contested as it appears a carry-over of the national league with the Elephant Girls clearly the favourite having dominated the local scene in the last one decade. An upset is, however, not impossible.
The Adewumi Aderemi coached team will play without him as he travelled out to Cotonou yesterday with the national U16 girls' team. In his place will be his assistant Shola Ogunade - a former national guard.
The second match of the day will be between 2005 Vmobile Challenge contest winner, Union Bank against Savannah Conference top rated side, Kano Pillars in a game that promises to be a thriller.
"We are set for this competition and nothing except Union Bank can stop us from winning," said the Bankers point guard, Sola Alayande.
Zenith Bank Women League runners-up Dolphins will engage Sunshine Angels of Akure in a very balanced set with dunk off time set at 1pm.
The Akure-based Angels coached by Nigeria U18 Women head coach Andrew Isokpehi is set to confirm her rating as the better side with a 2-1 record this season over Wale Aboredin's Dolphins.
The last match of the day will be between two of the country's best male club-sides, Ebun Comets of Lagos and Niger Potters of Minna.
This is one match that fans cannot afford to miss going by the pedigree of both sides, while Potters can boast of experienced players on their roster, Comets are blessed with youthful players backed with a rich bench.

MBU ROCKERS looked like challenging for the Men’s Division One title at the start of the season, but they are slowly losing pace after a fourth defeat.
Bernard Bristol’s PLS Hawks and Jean-Paul Camille’s Baya hit the century mark over the weekend
As for defending champions PLS Hawks, they hit the century mark once again, just like title contenders Baya.

PLS Hawks 137 … Cascade Bullets 86

For the fourth consecutive match, outgoing champs PLS Hawks reached the century mark, and last Saturday at Victoria Gymnasium, Cascade Bullets were on the receiving end of a 137-86 beating.
Ugandan Stephen Omony scored a game-leading 33 points and got valuable help from Seychelles centre Rodney Lozé with 28 points.
The Hawks’ previous three big wins were against Razors (136-71), Praslin Warriors (119-57) and Beau Vallon Heat (115-43).
They have now brought their win tally to 12 in 13 games for 25 points, while coach Grégoire Scholastique’s Cascade Bullets have 16 points for three wins and 10 losses.

Baya 116 … Angels 87

Like PLS Hawks, Baya extended their unbeaten run to four matches in the second round of the championship with a 116-87 defeat of Angels last Saturday.
Sharpshooter Jean-Paul Camille was on fire for Baya, who will travel to Praslin this weekend to meet Praslin Warriors. He banked a game-high 41 points and was helped on the offensive end by Seychelles centre Robert Léon (29 points), Hendricks Denis and Giovanni Laval (17 apiece).
The win was Baya’s 11th in 13 games played for 24 points – five more than Angels, whose win-lose record now stands at 6-7 and who have gone two games without a victory.

MBU Rockers 44 … RC Dynamics 55

RC Dynamics questioned the officials’ decisions early in their match against MBU Rockers but still went home victorious for the second weekend in a row.
Without Cyril Agrippine on the court, the Rockers again played with no conviction and determination, allowing RC Dynamics to outscore them 19-8 in the fourth quarter for a 55-44 win after the score was tied at 36-36 at the end of 30 minutes’ play.
Centre Emmanuel Larue did a fine job bringing down offensive rebounds which he turned into baskets as he got 16 points, and playmaker Kenneth Domingue added 12 for RC Dynamics, whose winning streak is now at two games after surprising Angels 77-73 the previous weekend.
With an even win-lose record of 6-6, RC Dynamics have 18 points, while MBU Rockers have now lost four times in 13 games for 22 points.

In the Men’s Division Two league, Mont Fleuri Dawgz never looked in trouble against RA Herons in getting a 61-39 victory to bring their win total to 12 in 13 games. They lead the 11-team standings with 25 points.
Anse Boileau-based Drifters celebrated their first win of the season in 13 games with a 59-56 defeat of LMS Youth.


G. G. from http://www.nation.sc/

by Pius Ayinor
Lagos

The national Under 16 boys and girls basketball teams are billed to leave Lagos by road tomorrow for Cotonou, Benin Republic. The players are to feature in the Africa Zone 3 qualifying tournament leading to the African final stage holding early next in yet to be announced venue.

The event in Benin Republic is billed to start on Thursday and run through September 4th while teams depart on the 5th.

The Secretary of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Mr. Francis Gbiri told THISDAYSports that everything was in place for the teams to travel.
"They should be in Lagos by tomorrow (today) and leave on Wednesday. We leave by road to Cotonou and I can say that the teams are in high spirit and eager to perform well," Gbiri said.
The final lists of players were drawn after more than three weeks of camping and screening in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The screening exercise was carried out by the six coaches, the senior national team coach Ayo Bakare, NBBF Chairman Technical Committee Dr. Adamu Ahmed and League Director and FIBA Africa Zone 3 President Muktar Malone Khaleh and the Atlantic Conference coordinator Babs Ogunade.

The final team list for the U16 Girls reads: Chukwuedo Emmanuella (Asaba), Enyinnaya Linda (Aba), Achimba Linda, Eluemoku Sandra Oby (Delta), Ugoka Ujunwa(Lagos), Ugha Sarah Akpezi (Lagos) and Awobajo Emmanuella (Kaduna). The list also includes Gede Num Mbawuese (Lessel), Alabi Toluwaloju (Kaduna), Amos Blessing, Udobi Sandra (Kano), Okunlola Yetunde (Abeokuta) and Imovbioh Sarah (Abuja).

The coach is Aderemi Adewunmi and will be assisted by the pair of Angela Nzekwe, and Peter Ahmedu.
The U-16 Boys roster has Owolabi Sulaiman (Ibadan), Oloche Michael (Jos), Yamsat Naanma (Jos), Yarkwaiu Daniel (Kaduna), Zanna Nura (Kaduna), Ikima Sesugh (Makurdi), Usman Baba (Minna), Odia Peter (Lagos) and Obekpa Chris (Makurdi). The others are Owolabi Seyi (Ibadan), Igho Innocent (Jos), Joseph Victor and Alade Adeola.
They will be led by coach Adamu Kuta Abdul and assisted by Bartholomew Francis and Sabo Gwadabe.

by Fred Vubem

The 5th edition of the of the Kossengwe International basketball training camp is currently taking place at the sports complex of the presidential guard in Obili in Yaounde. The training camp supervised by experts from the United States of America, brings together basketball trainers and players from Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, Congo and host country, Cameroon. Special focus this year will be on the 'Box It Out' programme aimed at creating HIV awareness among the youths.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, the camp promoter and founder, Joe Touomou, said the aim of the camp was not only to groom professional basketball talents, but also to enable youths become better citizens in life through the practise of basketball. He called on the campers to be disciplined, hardworking and develop team spirit, which are all values acquired through the practise of basketball. He disclosed that Kossengwe has the ambition of organising international basketball tournaments in Cameroon which will witness the participation of professional basketball players so as to inspire the youth.

The training will comprise both practical and theoretical lessons and participants are expected at the end to present a report of activities. The social part of the training will be assured by a non profit making organisation based in the US known as "Hoops for Africa" which is out to use sports and basketball in particular as a tool for education. They will be training campers as peer educators in creating HIV awareness among the youths in their respective countries. Other than HIV/AIDS, Kossengwe equally educates youths on important issues such as illegal immigration and the environment.

Kossengwe has helped groomed basketball talents in Cameroon as participants in the camp were part of the junior national basketball team that was vice African champion in Dakar-Senegal. The Kossengwe graduates were equally part of the senior basketball national team that came second in the African championships in Angola. Kossengwe has equally granted scholarships to 30 youths from Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon who are now studying and playing basketball in colleges and high schools in the US. Kossengwe is made up mostly of former basketball players who want to offer youths better opportunities than they had in basketball.

by Malyo Njedengwa

The basketball league for Dar es Salaam secondary schools continued yesterday with matches played at two centres of Don Bosco and Zanaki Secondary School.
In the first match of the day Loyala girls whitewashed Ally Hassan Mwinyi by 54-6 points with half time score of 20-2 in favour of the eventual winners.
Shaaban Robert school were too good to Good Samaratan winning by hefty 38-5 points with half time lead of 10-5 points in another one sided clash.
Ally Hassan Mwinyi boys suffered another loss at the hands of Benjamin Mkapa Secondary School going down by 2-20 points.
Azania school boys breezed past Dar es Salaam Secondary School by 27-9 points with a comfortable 11-5 points half time lead


Results of matches played on Monday are as follows: Loyola boy beat Dar es Salaam by 26-13 (half time score 9-3); Jitegemee boys defeated Ally Hassan Mwinyi by 22-14points (half time 12-6).Jitegemee girls beat Shabani Robert by 25-15 points and Benjamin Mkapa crushed good Samaratan by 40-15.

by Samson Opus
Kabale

HOSTS Kigezi High girls edged Muntuyera High School Kitunga 35-33 in the Sprite Schools Basketball championship yesterday.
Ishamail Nuwagaba hit a game-high 17 while Abron Nkina contributed 12 in a late rally as the Kabale team sunk the Ntungamo side.
In the other tie third division league contenders St. Michael SS Sonde overcame Budo SS 63-46. The result kept St. Michael on top of Group A with four points over favourites Eagles Nest and Bugema SDA.
Andrew Kazunga sank five points while Wahab Mweba also contributed five as the Wakiso side recorded their second victory. The week-long championship that goes up to Saturday runs alongside a coaching clinic facilitated by FUBA officials Tom Ocamringa and Hamza Nyambogo.

Sprite schools basketball

Boys
Budo SS 46 St. Michael 63

Girls
Ssaku 24 Lubiri 33
Kigezi 35 Muntuyera 33

by Asuelimen Osasuyi

Nigeria's Under-16 boys and girls basketball teams are billed to depart the country for neighbouring Cotonou in Benin Republic. The players are to feature in the Africa Zone 3 qualifying tournament leading to the African final stage holding early next in yet to be announced venue.
The event in Benin Republic is billed to start tomorrow and run through September 3rd.
The Secretary of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Mr. Francis Gbiri who disclosed this said that everything was in place for the teams travel.
"They should be in Lagos by Tuesday and leave on Wednesday. We leave by road to Cotonou and I can say that the teams are in high spirit and eager to perform well," Gbiri told Fiba-Afrique.org.
The final lists of players were drawn after more than three weeks of camping and screening in Ibadan, Oyo State - south west of Nigeria. The screening exercise was carried out by the six coaches and the senior national team coach, Ayo Bakare.

by Samson Opus
Kampala

MAKERERE College School and Eagles Nest High School rekindle their rivalry on court as the Sprite Schools Basketball Championship tips off in Kabale today.
The two teams reached the finals of both boys and girls competitions in Mbarara last year.
Makerere College beat Eagles Nest to win in the boys' category but the former turned tables to snatch the girls' title.
The two institutions are expected to take centre stage in the invitational one-week tournament at Kigezi High School.
Other teams that have already arrived in Kabale for the event include Kitunga High, Saku SS, Kololo SS, Bugema Adventist and Budo SS.
Others include Ntare School, St. Joseph Vocational School, St. Kalemba SS and St. Michael Sonde. Century Bottling Company has sponsored the annual event to a tune of sh79.3m.
The funding covers transport, feeding, uniforms and equipment for all participating teams. This year's package is sh20m higher due to the rise in inflation.

The first edition of the First Deepwater Discovery Battle for Supremacy basketball tournament promises to be a thriller when it dunks-off Thursday at the sports hall of the University of Lagos Sports Centre, Akoka, Lagos.

According to First Deepwater Discovery Limited boss, Engr. Babatunde Babalola that all the eight teams (four male and four female) invited for the 3-Day tournament will be rewarded handsomely.
Engr. Babalola told reporters during a press briefing in Lagos last Thursday that each of the eight teams shall receive the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N250, 000) as participation fees.
He also added that in addition to the participation fees, all the teams would be accommodated in for the duration of the tournament.
The First Deepwater Discovery top-shot also gave a hint that each of the teams shall get a laptop with an inbuilt domain name for the effective dissemination of information about their clubs and for proper achieving.

Winner of the 3-Day Battle for Supremacy tournament which will feature Ebun Comets basketball club, Lagos, Union Bank basketball club, Lagos, Niger Potters basketball club, Minna and Kano Pillars basketball club in the Men category while the women clubs has First Bank basketball club, Lagos; Dolphin basketball club, Lagos; Delta Force basketball club, Asaba and Sunshine Angels basketball club of Akure will receive the sum of Five hundred thousand naira in a winner-take-all tournament.

Engr. Babalola promised that the tournament will become an annual event which will always attract the best top-4 teams in the country from both the men premier league and the women league.

He says the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF should not be left alone in the development of the game in the country.

by Sande Bashaija
Kampala

This year’s Sprite schools invitational basketball tournament is expected to be bigger and better after Century Bottling Company Limited announced an improved sponsorship package of Shs79.3m yesterday.

Under the Sprite brand, the company injected Shs59m in last year’s tournament hosted by St. Josephs Vocational School, Mbarara.
“There are schools that have no chance of qualifying for any national championship.
That’s why we decided to put this invitational tournament in place to help those schools improve their game,” Coca Cola promotions manager Kennedy Mutenyo announced at a press briefing in Namanve.
This year’s tourney is to be hosted by Kigezi High School, Kabale. “I would like to caution all participants to come with their documents and make sure they are bonafide students,” organizing committee head Rafael Bwire warned.
The teams assemble at the venue on Saturday and must undergo mandatory screening the following day before getting into action for six days.
Budo SS, Ssaku, Kololo SS, Bugema Adventist, Eagles Nest, Ntare, St. Kalemba, St. Michael and Muntuyera are some of the teams that have confirmed their participation.
Makerere College School (boys) and Eagles Nest (girls) are the defending champions.

THE Men’s Division One title is far from being decided, and while the race for the coveted crown is heating up, the fight to avoid demotion is also fierce.

In fact, teams in the bottom half of the championship seem to be involved in a league of their own as they battle each other to earn valuable points for survival in the top flight.

Formerly SMB Razorbacks, Razors look in danger of making the drop at the end of the season.

Boasting some young players after the seniors decided to join other top clubs at the start of the season, Razors face the daunting task of pulling win after win to avoid relegation.

But right now, things don’t look that easy for Razors, who conceded an 11th defeat – including one through a walkover – in 12 games played to carry the weight of the 10-team table. Their latest loss was against Cascade Bullets on a 75-80 score.

The Bullets, who are also not experiencing a good season, have three wins and nine defeats in 12 games played.

Beau Vallon Heat also face the risk of losing their top-flight status after just one season among the top clubs as they are second from bottom.

Against title contenders Baya, the Heat had absolutely no chance of victory, and instead of burning their opponents they were on the receiving end in a 48-128 defeat.

With one win and 11 defeats, the Heat occupy ninth place on the league table with 13 points – one more than Razors.

As for Baya, they are second with 22 points after getting their 10th win in 12 outings.
In a match involving two mid-table teams, RC Dynamics collected a surprising 79-73 victory over Anse Boileau-based Angels.

Angels are fifth with 17 points after six wins and five defeats, while RC Dynamics have five wins and six losses for 16 points to occupy sixth spot.

Moving to Praslin, Praslin Warriors have lost all their three second-round home matches on their Grand Anse court. Their latest defeat was against defending champions PLS Hawks, who travelled there last Saturday to collect a 119-57 victory.

In the Men’s Division Two, Anse Etoile are now in first place after their overtime 69-65 win over Juniors.
With 10 wins and three defeats, Anse Etoile have 23 points – the same as Mont Fleuri Dawgz, who have a game in hand. Juniors are third with 22 points, followed in fourth position by AAP Brothers, who beat RA Herons 58-51 in their last match.
In another second-tier match played this week, Pointe Larue Falcons collected their 10th victory in 11 games, beating LMS Youth 78-54.

G. G.

by Suleiman Jongo

The basketball league for Dar es Salaam-based secondary schools gets underway at the National Indoor Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

The league is staged under the patronage of Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) and sponsored by Uniliver Tanzania Ltd, said the body's spokesman, Michael Maluwe.

Besides staging the championship, BD is also scouting for budding talents who hold the future of Tanzania's basketball, he said. Taking part in the league would be Jangwani, Dar es Salaam, Benjamin Mkapa, Mzizima, Makongo, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Loyola, Jitegemee and Ahmes girls secondary schools.
Others are Good Samaritan, Azania, Tegeta and Shaaban Robert. Loyola are the title holders for girls while Ali Hassan Mwinyi are for boys.
The Uniliver company has parted with Sh24 million in the sponsorship package to cater for prizes, kits for the teams and other running expenses of the tournament.
BD president Simon Msoffe expressed his sincere appreciation for the sponsorship which he said had come at the right moment.
He told Uniliver's marketing manager Charles Samwel that BD valued the sponsorship and the tournament would be named after the firm's margarine product of Blue Band. Samwel said their sponsorship aims at promoting basketball especially for budding players.
Two 14-inch television sets have been set aside for the most valuable players for both girls and boys. The best three-pointer players would be entitled to an oven.

In First Deepwater Battle for Supremacy ……. UNILAG Indoor wears new look

First Deepwater Discovery Limited a company committed to the upliftment of the game of basketball in Nigeria is set to drag eight top teams in the country to the Sports hall of the University of Lagos in a three-day tournament tagged “Battle for Supremacy”

According to the tournament head of organizing committee, Adenike Carew the event will have four male and four female teams jostling for the prize money.

The Bounce Naija crooner told our correspondent the First Deepwater Discovery boss, Babatunde Babalola is happy with the response of the eight teams invited for the tournament.

She gave the names of the teams as Ebun Comets and Union Bank basketball clubs of Lagos, Niger Potters of Minna and Kano Pillars for the men and reigning Zenith Bank Women league champion, First Bank basketball club of Lagos, Dolphin also of Lagos, Delta Force of Asana and Sunshine Angels of Akure as teams for the women category.

The former board member of the Lagos State Basketball Association further disclosed that all the teams will be accommodated and receive a handsome package as participation fee.

The three-day tournament is billed to hold between August 28 through 30 at the sports hall of the UNILAG Sports Centre, Akoka, Lagos.

Kenya advances to Africa U18 Championship for men in Egypt. In the zone 5 qualifiers the team became the best squad to be sent to the championship. Kenya participated with Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan and Burundi to decide the winner. In the decisive game Kenya overcame Rwanda 57:56 to win the qualifier. After the win over Rwanda, Kenya rounded up their unbeaten run with a 58:49 win over Uganda to qualify for the continental showpiece to be staged in Cairo, Egypt from August 16-25, 2008.
The winners took an early lead in the opening quarter and dominated the court. In the second quarter however Ugandans bounced back to a 15:11 margin. It gave the latter 22:20 lead when the teams left the court for the break. Uganda continued to be in front even in the last period and had a 51:42 advantage to the delight of their crowd. Olumasi brought Kenya back at 56:56 and then another points saw them on top of the group. Kenya boys finished their games unbeaten with a resounding 89:55 win over Uganda. Moses Wanjara led the winners with 19 points. Kevin Samora and Anthony Okello netted 14 apiece and Joshua Omondi scored 10. Rwanda finished second with a 58:47 win over Burundi.

The Luanda Provincial Association of Basketball (APBL), Tuesday in Luanda elected sole candidate Maria da Conceição Sampaio its chairperson for the 2008/2012 term.
Maria da Conceição won the chair with nine votes from the clubs Sporting, Desportivo do Maculusso, Petro-Atlético, Progresso do Sambizanga, 1º de Agosto, Visa FC, Vila Clotilde, CDUAN and Clube Universitário Lusíada de Angola (CULA).
The APBL new chairperson comes in replacement of António Clemente Júnior.
Speaking to Angop at the end of the election, Maria da Conceição Sampaio expressed satisfaction and pledged to do her best to achieve her main goal, that of developing female mini-basketball in Luanda.
She stated that juvenile category is the basis for the emergence of new talents, which will take a particular attention from the new managing team.
Maria Sampaio is an ex-basketball player with Clube Desportivo 1ºde Agosto, Petro Atlético and Ferroviário de Luanda.

UGANDA's U-18 girls basketball team will compete at the Africa Junior Championship in Egypt later this year.

The team stormed the continental show after outwitting Kenya 57-56 in the decisive game of the Zone 5 tournament at Lugogo over the weekend.
The teams had drawn their first game 47-47 to set the stage for the match that produced the zonal qualifiers.
Kenya, determined not to leave the event empty handed, will represent the zone in the boy's event.
The Kenyans beat Burundi 58-49 in the final game of the event that also attracted teams from Sudan. The Kenyans won all their matches.
Uganda's girls made up for the inability by the boys team to live up to the challenge.

The team bowed out of the competition without a win.
Uganda's girls team made a slow start before they steadily stepped up gear with Maureen Amoding scoring a game high 19 points.
The Kenyans tried to contain Amoding and her colleagues but with little effort. Halima Nabusimba complemented Amoding's display with 7 points while Mariam Tamale had five.
Ambrose Tashobya, the president of basketball governing body FUFA commended the girls for their performance.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

Rwanda will not field a team at the forthcoming Africa Junior boys’ Championships in Egypt after a failed attempt in the qualifiers that were staged in Uganda last week.
Kenya edged Rwanda on 67-56 points in the round-robin four-day tournament that had also attracted Sudan, Burundi and hosts Uganda.
After imperious start with wins over Uganda, Sudan and Burundi, the juniors crumbled when it mattered most.
After trouncing Rwanda, Kenya rounded up their unbeaten run with a 58-49 win over Uganda to qualify for the continental showpiece to be staged in Cairo, Egypt this October.
Despite failing to qualify, the team’s manager Jean Lucien Mugabo commended the boys for putting up a spirited performance throughout the tournament.
“The boys tried but fell short. But the exposure and experience gained from the tournament will make them better players in the future,” he noted.

With 23 points scored this Saturday, power forward Eduardo Mingas was the most visible player of the Angolan men's basketball team's defeat against Greece, by 61-102, in a fourth round match of group B of the Olympic Games being held in Beijing, China.
The power forward of 2,15 metres, Ioannis Bourousis was the star player of the Greek team, by scoring 22 points, without opposition under the Angolan rim.
This is Angola's fourth defeat, after being beaten by Germany, 66-95, USA 76-95 and by China 68-85.
To close this first phase, the African champions will face the strong team of Spain, world champions, on Monday at 09:54am, local time in Angola.

by Sande Bashaija
Lugogo

It couldn't get any tighter. Uganda edged neighbours Kenya 57-56 to earn a birth at the Africa Junior Girls Championships due October in Tunisia.
The Ugandan girls, cheered on by a modest crowd at Lugogo Indoor Stadium Friday evening, found themselves trailing by two points (7-9) at the end of first quarter but recovered to win the tightest game witnessed in the five-day tournament by one point.
It was the same resilience the girls coached by Hamza Nyambogo showed in the first leg 47-47 draw with Kenya that propelled them to victory in the decisive encounter.
Mariam Tamale, despite being dwarfed by the giant Kenyans dished defence splitting passes and scored five points while her Nabisunsa teammate Halima Nabusimba added seven.
It was Maureen Amoding, who stole the show, outscoring everyone on the court with a game high 19 points to earn Uganda her first ever appearance in the continental showpiece. "The girls have done us proud. I will do everything to make sure they compete in the tournament," Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) president Ambrose Tashobya (pictured) said.

The boys, despite failing to win a single game, left with their heads. "All our boys are genuinely under-18. We hope they will be a force to reckon with in the next five years," Tashobya noted. Kenya, who won the boys category, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan all fielded boys that looked well above 18 years. Kenya boys finished the tournament without defeat.

Uganda57-56 Kenya (Girls)
Burundi 49-58 Kenya (Boys)

by Sande Bashaija
Kampala

TODAY
Burundi v Rwanda 2pm
Kenya v Uganda 6pm
Kenya v Uganda (Girls) 4pm

Coach Hamza Nyambongo is confident Uganda will have a team at the Africa Junior Championships due October in Cairo, Egypt. Nyambongo guided the Ugandan girls’ team to a rare 47-47 draw against Kenya in the opening game of the Africa Zone 5 Championship at Lugogo on Tuesday and is looking to build on that performance in the return leg tonight.

“I know we are going to Egypt. The team is very well prepared and the Kenyans won’t stand in our way,” Ngambongo told Daily Monitor yesterday.

The girls will be playing all out at Lugogo hoping to enter history books as the first Ugandan representatives to participate in the continental event. Nabisunsa’s Mariam Tamale is most likely to earn a berth in the starting five.

Title favourites, United States showed Olympic first-timers Mali no mercy in the women's basketball, pulverizing the Africans 97-41.

US coach, Anne Donovan said her team were only focused on what immediately lay ahead of them and not automatically assuming the final would be between the United States and world champions, Australia.
The United States stand to win their fourth Olympic title in a row.
"We are not thinking about Australia and that's an honest answer. That's the best part about this team as they really stay in the moment," said Donovan.
"There's no script that says Australia and the United States are going to be in that gold medal game," she continued.
Captain, Lisa Leslie put spark into the US performance with 16 points while four other players reached double figures.

by Edmund Kagire
Kigali

RWANDA'S U-18 basketball team continued their rich form in the ongoing U-18 Zone 5 African championship qualifiers taking place in Kampala, crusing past Sudan by 76-62 points.
The Rwandan youngsters, coached by Croatian trainer Viceslav are now one win away to qualify for the African U-18 championships to be held in Cairo this October.
Captain Crispin Gishoma and forward Elibo Muhire were inspiring form again tormenting the Sudanese defence. Ajuma Gatete and Fiston Muhire top scored with 17 points apiece.
Kenya overwhelmed Burundi 100-69 points, meaning that Burundi will be playing their last game against Uganda for pride. Uganda too will be hoping to salvage some pride after loosing their first 2 games to Burundi and Rwanda respectively.
Rwanda's only hurdle to Cairo now remains Kenya, who like Rwanda, have won their first 2 fixture.
The game against Sudan was watched by the Rwandan Embassy officials in Kampala and a series of Rwandans living in Uganda.

Results

Boys
Rwanda 76-62 Sudan
Kenya 100-69 Burundi

Today's fixture (Boys)
Kenya v Rwanda
Uganda v Burundi

Girls
Kenya v Uganda

The Angolan men's national basketball team lost this Thursday to China by 85-68, in the third round encounter of the Beijing Olympic Games.
By half time Angola were already losing by 42-44.
This is the third defeat for the African champions after losing to Germany (95-66) and the United States of America (97-76).
Angola will play again on August 16 against Greece for the fourth round.

The spate of injuries within the national men team of basketball is behind its Thursday's defeat to host China by 68-85, in the third round match of the ongoing Olympic Games, said coach Alberto de Carvalho "Ginguba".
Ginguba, who was speaking to Angop after the match, said the injuries of shooting guards Carlos Almeida and Olímpio Cipriano, as well as point guard Milton Barros, clearly crippled the team in Thursday's match, and in that against the US.
"We have three decisive players injured and this bars us from keeping the same game pace of the opponent teams," said Ginguba.
Milton Barros has a left femur injury, while Olímpio Cipriano suffered a blow during the game with Germany. Carlos Almeida sustained an injury in one of the knees where had undergone a surgery.
He also said the players are also saddened by the death of the mother of a colleague, Leonel Paulo.
Meanwhile, the coach expects the team to have a good performance in the game with Greece for the fourth round of the competition.

THE frontrunners kept up the pace in the fight for the Men’s Division One title with wins in their latest matches.

Defending champions PLS Hawks were paced by Ugandan all-rounder Stephen Omony with 31 points, centre Rodney Lozé (19 points), new recruit Timmy Adam from MBU Rockers (17 points) and veteran shooter Heribert Derjacques (11 points) as they reached the century mark in their 115-43 thumping of lowly Beau Vallon Heat.
The win was their 10th in 11 games played and they are second in the 10-team standings behind leaders Premium Cobras, who also have 10 victories and a loss.
With former Angels’ sharpshooter Darren Lesperance and ex-Razors’ forward Alex Baron in their ranks, the Cobras fended off the challenge of RC Dynamics in an 83-65 victory.
Nigerian Alao Solomon again carried Premium Cobras’ scoring load with 36 points.
Premium Cobras lead the standings on the head-to-head rule after edging PLS Hawks 89-86 in a come-from-behind first-round match-up victory on the back of a season-leading 52 points from Solomon.
Baya remain third after collecting their ninth victory, which came against Razors. They also clocked up a century in their 108-78 win. Jean-Paul Camille (29 points) and Robert Léon (28 points) combined for 57 of the winning team’s points.
MBU Rockers brought their win record to eight in 11 games with a 65-44 defeat of Cascade Bullets, who remain in the bottom half of the standings with 13 points after two wins and nine losses.
Anse Boileau-based Angels travelled to Praslin last Saturday and returned the same day with a 95-86 victory over hosts Praslin Warriors. They have now brought their winning total to six in 10 games.
In the Men’s Division Two, Juniors got 34 points including two 3-pointers from Abdel Sylla in a 93-35 victory over LMS Youth, and Anse Etoile defeated Drifters 92-67.
Mont Fleuri showed no pity for Juniors in the Women’s League, inflicting an 83-11 defeat on the youthful side who lost their previous match by a walkover against former Women’s champions Anse Etoile Stars.

by G. G.

by Sande Bashaija

Uganda will for the first time have a team at the Africa Junior Championships due October in Egypt if the girls hold off Kenya in a second leg game at Lugogo Indoor Stadium tomorrow evening.
The Ugandans rallied from a ten-point deficit, forcing Kenya to a 47-all draw in the first game at Lugogo on Tuesday evening. Draws in basketball are very rare but the ongoing Zone 5 tournament attracted only two teams, implying they had to decide the winner over two games.
"Let every Ugandan come here on Friday and give the team support. We are almost there," Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) president Ambrose Tashobya said.
Nabisunsa's Mariam Tamale came off the bench in fourth quarter and her fast dribbles and dishes troubled the Kenyan defence. She collected a quick eight points but the home crowd had to bite their fingers in the last five seconds as the Kenyans squandered a chance to snatch a one-point victory from the charity line.
Halima Nabusimba led Uganda with 11 points while Aisha Nakabubi added eight. Purity Odhiambo (15) and Mildred Olumasi (12) led the Kenyans on the score sheet.
The Ugandan boys have no chance of making it to Egypt, having lost to Rwanda 100-83 on Tuesday. They face Sudan this evening in hope of registering victory.

by Edmund Kagire
Kigali

Rwanda's Under 18 basketball team started off with a flying start in the ongoing Zone V championship qualifiers taking place in Kampala, seeing off their Uganda counterparts 100 to 83.

Rwanda, inspired by their captain Crispin Gishoma, were in inspiring from the word go, with the skipper scoring a series of 3 pointers before the Ugandan's settled into the Game.
Lionel Hakizimana caught the Ugandans on the break before passing the ball to Olivier Muhire for a slam dunk. Uganda though introduced Philip Luzzi and Keith Ashaba who quickly cut Rwanda's 10 point lead to 4 by the end of the 1st half.
Rwanda answered with quick fire shots in the 2nd quarter with Fiston Muhire, Ajuma Gatete and Emmanuel Tabara overwhelming the Ugandan defense restoring the 10 point lead.
The Ugandan's seemingly tired from the opening game against Burundi could not respond to the Rwandans who were playing their first game of the tournament.
Rwanda's Coach Viceslav praised the boys for their fighting spirit despite the referee's attempt to upset them by making biased decisions, which left Viceslav protesting on the touchline.

Rwanda's next game will be against Sudan who defeated Burundi earlier.
The winners of the five-day event will qualify for the African Junior Championships slated for October in Cairo, Egypt.

After Seven Stars appealed the decision of the Santiago South Associaton, the results were as follow, Santiago South will not send a representative to the National Basketball Championship. The Cape Verdean Basketball Federation (FCBB) decided, following a legal opinion issued by its Jurisdictional Council, to annul the South Santiago senior mens championship for the 2007/2008 season.

After Seven Stars appealed the decision of the Santiago South Associaton, the results were as follow, Santiago South will not send a representative to the National Basketball Championship. The Cape Verdean Basketball Federation (FCBB) decided, following a legal opinion issued by its Jurisdictional Council, to annul the South Santiago senior mens championship for the 2007/2008 season. The FCBBs decision brings an end to the confrontation that had pitted Seven Stars against ABC - both of the Praia-based teams were claiming the regional title for themselves.

With this decision by the FCBB, which also decided to annul the announcements issued by the Federations general secretary Carlos Furtado and treasurer Nuno Levy following the last game in the final phase of the senior mens playoff, Cape Verdes largest region will not be sending a representative to the national basketball championship.

In closing the book on this incident, which delayed and stained the image of the national basketball championship, the FCBB called on associated teams to take the necessary measures to ensure that this type of situation does not repeat itself in the future. Indeed, this was not the first time that such cases have taken place in the South Santiago region.

Monday’s results
Uganda 84-88 Burundi
Kenya 66-67 Sudan

Team Uganda succumbed to a bitter 88-84 loss at the hands of Burundi on Monday evening and must win their next two games against Sudan and Kenya to stand a chance of winning the Africa Zone 5 Junior Championship.

Before a modest crowd, the Ugandan juniors, took a 21-16 first quarter lead and looked destined to victory only to lose concentration in the last minute of the game.

by Pius Ayinor
Lagos

The national men's basketball team The Tigers returned to the country Monday night from Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire with the a ticket to the 2009 African Nations Cup holding in Libya. Incidentally Coach Ayo Bakare who led the team to the tournament led the welcome reception as he returned 48hours of the delegation to be beside his new born baby and wife.

In a chat just before the team touched down at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Bakare said the competition was played out far above the expectations of many followers of the game in Africa.
"It was obvious the hosts wanted to win at all cost. They brought in nine foreign-based professionals compared to the three that travelled with us and from the rickety bus that took us from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro and the way the game was officiated; it is obvious that they played against a desperate host country.
"We thank God we able to come out so strong," the national coach said.

The Tigers opened their campaign in the African Nations Cup qualifiers by beating Cote d'Ivoire 55-45. With only three teams available out seven in the African Zone 3 sector, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Togo and to play against each other twice to produce a total of four matches each. The Tigers won three games as they lost the reverse game to Cote d'Ivoire.
Nigeria thus picked the first ticket while the hosts got the other as two teams qualify from each of the six zones on the continent while the hosts of the final, the defending champions and the third and fourth teams from the previous finals make up the number of 16 teams. Angolans are the defending champions - a position that gave them the Beijing 2008 Olympics slot.
The Tigers were guests of the Nigerian Ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday. Ambassador Albert Olakunle Soyombo was host to a dinner party in his official residence in Abidjan.
"The Ambassador and his officials were quite good. They got in touch with us as soon as we got into that country," NBBF member Muktar Khaleh who was the head of delegation said of the event.

National champions KCB Lions roared c to a 73-52 win over University of Nairobi "Terrorists" in a premier league clash at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium.

The bankers led 35-24 at the break and despite going down 22-16 in the third quarter, still did well for a 19-9 adge in the last. Tobias Onyango nailed 16 points, Victor Odendo and Yoni Wanambiro eah added 12.It was their 12 straight win.

A day earlier, the campus lads beat Java warriors 64-61 in a closely fought tie. Theytrailed 6-18 in the first quarter before taking the second 22-17 but itwas not enough to give them the edeg at the end of the first half as they went down 28-35.

But after resumption, Mike Opinya and Humphrey Mbande exerted pressure that saw Java collapse as they campus lads took 16-11 and 20-15 edge in the last two quarters. Opinya nailed 21 points and Mbande added 16. For the Warriors, it was Ian Wena whode 16 and Dn Imbali scored 14.

In one of the most lopsided results f the league this year, leaders Eagle Wings humiliated
University of Nairobi "Dynamites" 105-21 to hang on to the top of the women's standings.

The victors, who have only lost one game whe they went down 47-48 to reigning champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in Mombasa had a sttrong game all through as they raced to a strong 29-4 and 27-7 advantage at the break.

Rebecca Sarange scored 16 points and Caroline Achieng posted 14. For the bemused varsity girls, Sylvia Omolo and Redmpta Achieng were the stars as they bagged six points a piece.

At the Menengai High school courts in Nakuru, Nakuru Club beat World Hope 117-97 in a highly competitive division one tie.

Dann OWERRE

by Sande Bashaija
Lugogo

Uganda will be hoping intense preparations produce good results when they face Rwanda in the Africa Zone 5 Junior Championships at Lugogo Indoor this evening.

Rwanda became the first country to report for the Under-18 Championship, jetting in on Friday and have had enough time to train and rest for the encounter that begins 6pm. "The team has prepared well. I watched our boys playing a friendly against league giants Sadolin Power and they looked good," Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) treasurer Chris Kyebambe told Daily Monitor over the weekend.

Winners of the five-day event will automatically qualify for the Africa Junior Championship due October in Egypt. Uganda's girls team only has Kenya to contend with and they take on the neighbours in an earlier fixture at 4pm. The first game pits Sudan against Burundi.

Today - Men
Sudan v Burundi 2pm
Uganda v Rwanda 6pm

Girls
Uganda v Kenya 4pm

Mali, Africa's representative in the women basketball of the ongoing Olympic Games in Beijing, started their campaign on a losing note. The West Africans who are marking their inaugural appearance in Olympic basketball lost 76-72 to New Zealand.

Mali scored valuable points for the continued emergence of women at the Games, which once shunned them entirely.

For winning the 2007 African championships and qualifying for the Beijing Games, each Mali player was awarded a house and prize money.

"Not a thousand dollars or two thousand dollars," said the team captain, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, who also plays for the Houston Comets in the W.N.B.A. But even a smaller amount would not be inconsiderable in one of the world's poorest countries, where the average annual income is $1,500.

"Everybody is proud of us, even the guys," said Maiga-Ba, 30, a forward who played at Old Dominion and is an iconic female sports figure in Mali, a predominantly Muslim country where women are subject to traditional subservience, genital mutilation, inequitable access to education and household violence.

"Things are getting better," she said. "Before, women in Senegal could have children and keep playing. In Mali, you stopped. Now women keep playing. It's changing a lot."

And not only in Africa. Women were not allowed to participate at the 1896 Summer Games in Athens, the first Olympics of the modern era.

They were expected to contribute applause, not athletic skill. Not until 1984 were women permitted to run the Olympic marathon, in reefer-madness fear that they might grow old too soon with such exertion; or worse, they might grow a mustache.

Or their uterus would fall out, as if it were a transmission. Now, women have become must-see TV at the Olympics, as well as the target viewing audience for NBC. Of the 11,427 athletes participating in the Games, 4,845 are women; 500 more than in Athens four years ago, 1,000 more than competed in Atlanta 12 years ago. Who could not be drawn to the swimmer Dara Torres's attempt to hit the snooze button on the biological alarm clock at age 41?

On Saturday, China's gold rush was postponed when Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic defeated, among others, the 2004 Olympic champion in the women's 10-metre air rifle, Du Li. Minutes later, Chen Xiexia cleaned and jerked China back on schedule with her victory in weight lifting.
Also Saturday morning, Mali finally got its first shot at women's basketball, which became an Olympic sport in 1976 and waited two decades before an African team, Nigeria, qualified for a Summer Games. Since 1996, the continent has won one game and lost 19. But this is a developing stage.

Nigeria senior men national team, D’Tigers Saturday posted a 73-48 points victory over Togo to come top of FIBA Africa Zone-3 with seventh points from four matches.

Though the Nigerian side share the same point with host Cote d’Ivoire but came first on technical ground after beating the Ivories by 65-55 points in their first meeting while it lost by 58-52 in the reverse fixture.
The last match against the Togolese on Saturday was played by the nine home-base players led by stand-in captain, Abdulrahman Mohammed after the three foreign –base players left for Nigeria Friday after helping the country to book a place at the 25th FIBA Africa Championship for Men next year.
Nigeria ranked 22nd in the world and second in Africa took a narrow 30-27 points lead into the third quarter but blew out the Togolese in the second stanza scoring a whopping 43 points in the third and fourth quarters.

The Coach Ayo Bakare tutored side will return to Nigeria Monday aboard a Bellview Airline.
Former Nigeria national team captain and newly assistant coach of the nation’s U18 men team Lateef Folami applauded the performance of the team for doing the country proud in Yamoussoukro.
“It is a good thing that Nigeria is returning to the big stage once again after a brief setback, I must congratulate the technical crew led by my former boss Ayo Bakare and the players for a job well-done.
“I hope their victories will rub-off on all our national engagement this year, Folami said.

by Charles Mutebi
Kampala

THE U-18 African Basketball Championship qualifiers began yesterday with as much excitement and attention as would be provoked by the fall of the first annual snowball in Iceland.

But as chance openings go, the event is a great opportunity silently standing by waiting to be recognised.

FUBA may be overwhelmed with the impending possibility of failing to raise the sh54m needed to fund the event, which is a wonder in itself since the federation should have known what it could chew before biting this thing off.
But now, attention should be turned on squeezing as much juice as possible from the event. That juice is of course what winning the qualifiers might herald for Uganda's next-to-non-existent national team structures.
If either or both of Uganda's boys and girls, win their competition(s), thereby becoming the first teams to represent Uganda at such a major event as the continental championship, the seeds for having Uganda's senior teams compete at this elite level in the future would have been sown.
Obviously whether the vision needed to carry through such a dream in the event is there is a totally different question but it has to be assumed that FUBA president Ambrose Tashobya, the man responsible for lodging Uganda's successful bid for this event, bears such ambitions
In the meantime, the immediate task is as pre-eminent as it is mysterious since little is known of the three boys' and two girls' teams Uganda will be competing against.

by Charles Mutebi and Aloysius Byamukama
Kampala

EIGHT teams have confirmed participation in the FIBA Zone 5 U-18 tournament which starts on Monday in Kampala.

The tournament yesterday received a sh4m sponsorship from NCR - Service Computer Industries (SCI).
The pledge was delivered by NCS-SCI general manager John Odeke at the company offices.
The company, in partnership with Xerox, also promised to award the event's Most Valuable Player with a multi-functional printer.
Uganda is hosting the competition up to August 15 but only five of the ten countries in the Zone X region have guaranteed to field at least one team in the tournament that will have both a boys and girls category.
Zone 5 comprises Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and Egypt. Foreign teams will start arriving on Sunday.
"The event is beginning on Monday and we expect our visitors here starting Sunday. We have received an advance team of referees and officials from Egypt, Kenya and Rwanda already," FUBA president Ambrose Tashobya revealed yesterday.
Burundi have promised to bring a boy's team as well as Sudan while Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda will field both boys and girls for the games that will be played at the Lugogo Indoor stadium.
Local basketball governing body FUBA have scheduled three games daily at an entrance fee of sh2000 for the ordinary seats and sh4000 for the VIP section.
The tournament will determine which teams qualify for the U-18 African Championship to be held in Egypt later this year.
A FIBA three-day referees clinic starts today. The clinic will be supervised by Egyptian Abel Abdul Majid and has already confirmed the participation of seven Ugandans, two Kenyans, two Egyptians, two Rwandese and a Tanzanian.

BASKETBALL action resumed earlier this week after almost a two-week break for the Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l’Océan indien (CJSOI) Games.

In a Men’s Division One championship match played on Tuesday, challengers Baya got a game-high 31 points from sharp-shooter Jean-Paul Camille in a 92-62 win over Cascade Bullets.

Before the break, leaders Premium Cobras had travelled to Praslin for the first-ever top flight match on the island and they reached the century mark in a 103-57 victory over Praslin Warriors on the Grand Anse Praslin outdoor court.
Defending champions PLS Hawks steamrollered bottom team Razors 136-71 and MBU Rockers beat Beau Vallon Heat 75-45.
It is hoped that MBU Rockers’ Cyril Agrippine will be fit for action against Cascade Bullets today after he suffered a broken nose in his team’s win against Beau Vallon Heat, The swingman was caught by an elbow right in the nose and needed surgery to repair the damage.

In the Men’s Division Two, AAP Brothers beat LMS Youth 76-34, leaders Mont Fleuri Dawgz defeated Cadets 67-34, RA Herons lost 49-58 to Anse Etoile, Juniors beat RA Rockets 93-63 and RA Herons ousted LMS Youth 63-43.

In a Women’s league match scheduled for Thursday, outgoing champions Anse Etoile Stars walked over Juniors.
Competition in all three leagues continues this weekend with matches at Victoria Gymnasium.

G. G.

National under-18 girls’ basketball team left Mombasa on Thursday evening for Kampala to participate in the Africa Zone Five tournament to be held in Kampala in Uganda from Monday.

The 12 players who travelled after a week’s residential training camp at Mombasa Technical Training Institute (MTTI) were expected in Kisumu on Friday and leave Saturday morning morning to Kampala ready for the tournament.
Coach Philip Onyango said all players are fit and that he was satisfied with the team’s preparations and he was optimistic that they will do well.
“We really prepared ourselves for the competition and we are all set to face any opposition and win,” he said.
Captain Margaret Wambui said they were going to Kampala not just to participate but to win the ticket to the Africa finals in Egypt in October.
Kenya will also be represented in the boy’s event. So far the tournament has attracted five countries- Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Somalia and hosts Uganda.

Boys’ category

The winners of the boys’ category will qualify for the 10th Fiba Africa U18 Championship in Tunisia in October while the girls’ winners to play in Egypt the same month in the Africa continent finals..
The winners of the Fiba Africa continental event will book their places for the 2009 U-19 Fiba World Championship.

The focus on this weekend’s basketball Premier League will be on Eagle Wings as they play two critical return leg matches at the Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium.
On Saturday, they start favourites against lowly rated University of Nairobi’s Dynamites from 2pm.
On Sunday, Eagle Wings will take on Flames of the United States International University of Africa in a tie expected to be full of fireworks.

With the absence of its three foreign-based players Tunji Awojobi, Olumide Oyedeji and Ejike Ugboaja who heads for home after securing a ticket for the country in 2009 FIBA Africa Championship for Men Nigeria suffered her first defeat in the FIBA Africa Zone-3 qualification losing by 58-52 points to host Cote dIvoire in a reverse fixture.

The Coaches Ayo Bakare and Sani Ahmed tutored side from investigation decide to take the remaining games lightly after beating host Cote dIvoire (65-55) and Togo (76-43) in their first meeting.
The Nigeria national team, DTigers with nine home-based players left is confident of beating the Togolese so as to finish top of the zone qualification.
According to a source from the Nigerian camp in Yamoussoukro venue of the qualifying matches who spoke to our correspondent on telephone Friday night that there is no cause for alarm as the country is happy to be back among the big nations that will jostle for a place in the 2010 FIBA World Championship billed for Turkey.
We are happy once again that after going through tortuous qualifiers which we are not used to since the country have not dropped beyond the third position in past FIBA Africa Championship to book a place in Libya 2009 Championship, we are confident of picking one of the three tickets for the 2010 World Championship, the source opined.

Analysts have therefore charged the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF to be up and doing in its responsibilities of ensuring that the country perform creditably in all international engagement from the U16 to the senior championships.
They argue that the country does not need the services of foreign coaches to do well in major championship based on the premise that last two expatriate coaches (Sam Vincent, Kevin Cook and Robert Mclum) engaged in the last four years did not live up to expectation instead they succeeded in taking the country basketball several steps back-ward.

They want the NBBF to emulate the spirit in Angola, saying that reigning Africa champion does not have half of the top qualities players at the country disposal but mal-administration couple with bad judgments have continue to rob Nigeria of its rightful place in Africa and World basketball stage.

The Qualifications for the U18 African basketball cup of nations for zone 1was hosted by Morocco in the period between (26th \ July - 1st \ August ) , the home team managed to clinch the top spot and qualify to the to the final rounds of the championship to be held from october 16-25 in Alexandria , Egypt.

The U18 Libyan national team headed to morocco with Neven Filip Luetic (Serbia) as the head coach and a list of 12 players :

Name Club
Younis Agloli Hilal
Malek Derwish Shabab
Abdalla Shalabi Wahda
Jamal Ali Hamad Moroj
Sasi Fezani Madina
Ala Agila Madina
Abdulwahed Geryani Hilal
Sedeq Kshlaf Madina
Taher Zawie Ittihad
Maruan Farhat Madina
Yousef Shwehdi Nasr
Hamza Solah Yarmook

Although the team did not qualify to the finals but they managed to play close and equal games with their level developing each match they play , Although the absence of the two best players and a short preparation time Coach Neven Filip Luetic did his best to make the Libyan National team play with good level.

Qualification Results :

first Leg:
Morocco - Libya 49-39
Tunisia - Libya 100-55
Algeria - Libya 74-65

Second Leg :
Libya - Morocco 60-69
Libya - Tunisia 43-75
Libya - Algeria 61-67

Two clubs Gabonese, MANGA BASKET (Champion 2008) and SOMO B (Vice champion 2008), participated this competition that took place Kinshasa to Seven teams of four countries (Gabon, Congo RDC, Congo Brazzaville): LUPOPO (RDC) - INTER CLUB (CGO) - RED STAR (RCA) - SOMO BASKET (GABON) - ONATRA (RDC) - PATRONNAGE (CGO).
Final ordering
1st ONATRA (RDC) 6 matches, 11 Points, 5 victories, 1 defeats.
2nd LUPOPO (RDC) 6 matches, 10 Points, 4 victories, 2 defeats.
3rd SOMO B (GABON) 6 matches, 10 Points, 4 victories, 2 defeats.
4th PATRONNAGE (CGO) .6 matches, 9 Points, 3 victories, 3 defeats.
5th RED STAR (RCA) 6 matches, 9 Points, 3 victories, 3 defeats.
6th INTER CLUB (CGO) 6 matches, 7 Points, 1 victories, 5 defeats.
7th MANGA B (GABON) 6 matches, 7 Points, 1 victories, 5 defeats.
We recall that the two first are qualified in final phase that he will play in September 2008.
Team of MANGA B
Lindeme William; BOUNDOU K; Ngouadihouyi J ; Bouyoba Ghislain; LANDJI G; Mouandza Max ; Masrabe Johd; Madama Martial; Nze Digondi; MITORY P; BIYOGHO TCHOUA P;
Coach: ONDOUMOU Rufin
Team of SOMO B
Bekale Cedric; Mytoulou Denis; Owoula Roland; LOUKOUSSA P; Nguema Obame Jimmy; Eyenet Davy; MESSI J; MOUSSAVOU J; Ndong Robert; COMPANY; Nyoundou Edwin; KALALA Moutombo Bebina;
Coach : Antoine BOUSSOUGOU
Bebina Moutombo (-78)

from africabasket.com

By Renatha Msungu

Tanzanian referee Gosbert Boniface has been named by the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) to handle the U-17 East and Central Africa tournament set for next week in Kampala, Uganda.
Tanzania Basketball Federation (BFT) Secretary-General Lawrence Cheyo said yesterday that it was the first time for a local referee to be appointed by the body to officiate such a crucial event.
``We are very happy for the appointment because it shows that we have qualified referees,`` he said.
He also said Tanzania would not send a team in the regional tournament due to poor preparation and lack of funds.
Cheyo added that the national basketball championship will be held on October 19 at Dar es Salaam`s Indoor Stadium.

The fourth edition of the annual Royal Hoopers Classics ended Tuesday in Port-Harcourt Rivers State with host Royal Hoopers basketball club as champion with a 61-51 point victory over Union Bank basketball club of Lagos.

The Royal Hoopers basketball club despite playing their semi-final game against Dodan Warriors on the morning of the final, they left no one in doubt about their ambition of winning the title which was achieved in grand style.
Royal Hoopers propelled by their President, Syndoph Endoni threw aside the rating of Union Bank basketball club of Lagos and played as hungry lions to the delight of their numerous fans that thronged the new look Police Officers Mess court located at the heart of the old GRA.

To make assurances double clear for them that they were for the title, they went ahead to win the championship with 10 points ahead of the Stallion boys who had to edge out the FCT Rocks of Abuja in a grueling semi-final game the previous day.
With the victory, Royal Hoopers have joined the list of teams to have won the annual championship which now enjoys the support of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC), UBA, Pepperoni and Itex Furnitures.

Others teams that have won in the championship in the past include FCT Rocks in 2005; Dodan Warriors in 2006 and Ebun Comet in 2007.
The host team on their way to the final had played in Group-A alongside Bayelsa Waves, Delta Force and Port-Harcourt Knights formerly known as Free Nets and emerged second behind FCT Rocks.
The team went ahead to edged past Dodan Warriors basketball club of Lagos in a game that saw them very determined to win the championship as they had to put in their best with the likes of Bemute Suobo, Gift Achiuwa and others marshalling urging the Hoopers on while coaches Lamai Johnson, Fuburah Onyenabor and Tekeena Okugwa at their best.
Tried as much as Union Bank did to change the course of the game, the fighting spirit of the Port-Harcourt boys was not to be daunted as they went ahead to claim victory that threw many of their fans into wild jubilation.

Union Bank on their way to the final had played in Group-B alongside Ebun Comet, Dodan Warriors, Chariots of Lagos and UNN Lions which featured Victor Okoro of Bauchi Nets.

The third place game saw Dodan Warriors claiming victory over the FCT Rocks in a match that preceded the final game.

For their efforts, the Royal Hoopers basketball team got the sum of N400, 000 in addition to a giant trophy while the runners-up, Union Bank smiled back to Lagos with the sum of N300, 000 and Dodan Warriors got N200, 000 for their effort.
Speaking after his boys won the game; Royal Hoopers president, Endoni expressed joy at the accomplishment of his team and noted that they as a team are now ready for any level of competition especially the Nigeria Basketball Federation organized Premier basketball league.
This victory is like a dream come true and I must say that the players and officials have made us proud and this shows that investing in the youths is paying off handsomely, he stated.
One of the coaches of the team, Teekena Okumgba who also spoke on the teams victory said it was a thing of joy for the team to have made this far.
Our victory goes to show that our hard work has not been in vain. We can only work hard to get better because what we have ahead of us is real big. We thank God for his seeing us through thus far.

Royal Hoopers Gift Achiuwa was voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the classics and got a plaque and certificate for his effort.
The highest scorer in the Classics went to Chariots combo guard, Anyebe Alexandra who scored a total of 84 points, while the award for the highest rebounder went to Joseph Ochiebo also of the Chariots basketball club of Lagos with a total of 48 rebounds.
The leader in assists was claimed by Haruna Maitama who recorded 10 assists and Moses Daudu who featured for the Port-Harcourt Knights recorded 9 steals.
In the area of most 3 points made, Nosa Omorogbe of FCT Rocks took the day just as veteran player Bemute Swabou of Royal Hoopers emerged the best free throw shooter and Echoi Peters of FCT Rocks emerged the leader in block shots.

from africabasket.com

by Charles Mutebi and Aloysius Byamukama
Kampala

EIGHT teams have confirmed participation in the FIBA Zone 5 U-18 tournament which starts on Monday in Kampala.
The tournament yesterday received a sh4m sponsorship from NCR - Service Computer Industries (SCI).

The pledge was delivered by NCS-SCI general manager John Odeke at the company offices.
The company, in partnership with Xerox, also promised to award the event's Most Valuable Player with a multi-functional printer.
Uganda is hosting the competition up to August 15 but only five of the ten countries in the Zone X region have guaranteed to field at least one team in the tournament that will have both a boys and girls category.

Zone 5 comprises Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and Egypt. Foreign teams will start arriving on Sunday.
"The event is beginning on Monday and we expect our visitors here starting Sunday. We have received an advance team of referees and officials from Egypt, Kenya and Rwanda already," FUBA president Ambrose Tashobya revealed yesterday.
Burundi have promised to bring a boy's team as well as Sudan while Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda will field both boys and girls for the games that will be played at the Lugogo Indoor stadium.
Local basketball governing body FUBA have scheduled three games daily at an entrance fee of sh2000 for the ordinary seats and sh4000 for the VIP section.
The tournament will determine which teams qualify for the U-18 African Championship to be held in Egypt later this year.
A FIBA three-day referees clinic starts today. The clinic will be supervised by Egyptian Abel Abdul Majid and has already confirmed the participation of seven Ugandans, two Kenyans, two Egyptians, two Rwandese and a Tanzanian.

by Pius Ayinor
Lagos

Nigerian national male basketball team, The Tigers began their run through the African qualifiers to the 2009 Nations Cup in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire late Tuesday with a 55-45 win over hosts Cote d'Ivoire.

It was Nigeria's first game in qualifiers for the African Zone Three teams comprising also Ghana, Niger Republic, Liberia, Benin and Togo. It was also expected to be the toughest match of the championship for The Tigers who have finished in the runners up position on the continent thrice in the last decade.

"We got well by every calculation; everything is okay with us," the Nigeria Basketball Federation Secretary Mr. Francis Gbiri told THISDAYSports.
"We pray it continues to work like this as we face the other teams and fulfill our mission here on very high terms."
The Nigerians beat their opponents from Togo 76-41 late last night at the same venue.
Two teams are to qualify from the competition in Cote d'Ivoire just as two teams will qualify from other five zones of the continent to make up the full list in Tripoli, Libya next year. Nigeria had entered as host for the 2009 edition but withdrew to become the hosts for 2011 event. The Tigers finished fifth in the last edition held in Angola which automatically forced them into playing the qualifying series.

Abdulrahman Mohammed of the Nigeria Customs team is the captain of the team in this tournament. The initial one hundred percent Nigerian Premier League players were joined by Tunji Awojobi who has been with the team since 1995, Olumide Oyedeji a former NBA player and Ejike Ugboaja also based in America.

by Swaib Muyawera
Kigali

The national junior basketball team leaves today by road to Kampala, Uganda for the Zone V championship scheduled for August 10-16.
The delegation which is headed by the local basketball federation president Fidel Rutagarama comprises 12 players and six officials.
The players include; Deo Nkurikiyinka, Elibo Muhiire, Emmanuel Tabara, Francis Gahukanyi, Teo Tim Murihira, Juma Gatete, Ivan Ngirabakunzi, Crispus Gishoma, Fiston Muhiire, Olivier Muhiire, Lionel Hakizimana and Daniel Kirenga.
While the officials include Veceslav Kavidjija (head coach), Erick Kalimba and Prosper Mihigo (assistants), a team doctor whose identity was yet to be disclosed by press time and the federation secretary general Jean Lucien Mugabo, who's traveling as the team manager.
The week-long tournament is expected to attracted teams from all Zone V member countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Egypt, Rwanda and the hosts Uganda.

The U18 male national team of Morocco clinched the trophy of Zone I Cup, played from July 26 to August 1 in Mekhnes, Morocco and books the sole zone ticket for the travel to Egypt.
After six days of huge competition, Morocco ended first with 11 points followed by Algeria with 11 points. Tunisia took the 3rd place with 8 while Libya is ranked 4th (bottom) with 6 points.
Morocco will represent the zone I at the final rounds of the 16th African Championship for U18 Men to be played from 16th to 25th October 2008 in Alexandria, Egypt.

The national U18 boys and girls team depart for Kampala on Sunday by road to take part in the Zone Five qualifiers that starts in Ugandan capital on Monday 11.
But the girls preparations received a huge blow when key player and top guard Yvonne Mashedi withdrew from the side that is undergoing intense training in Mombasa under coach Philip Onyango.
"We have been training in Mombasa and remain optimstic of our chances," says Onyango after yesterday's morning work out in a beach at the coastal city.
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) secretary Vitalis Gode told FibaAfrica yesterday that Mashedi, who also turns out for premier league side Sprite Storms, pulled out as she is pursuing a scholarship to the UK.
The other players yet to report to camp are Prime Minsiter's daughter -Winnie Odinga who is out of the country but will join team on Wednesday and Kisumu based Debrah Obunga who will also join the squad today (Monday).
The regional junior event that throws off at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium will involve the junior teams from Rwanda, Sudan, Eritrea, Burundi, Kenya and host Uganda.Tanzania and Somalia pulled out with Ethiopia yet to confirm.
In the boys category one player is in Western, two are in Mombasa five in Nyanza in school while seven are in Nairobi undergoing non residential training under coach David Maina.
KBF had named a squad of 26 players in both categories for the tournament whose winners will represent the zone in the Africa championships in Egypt for boys and Tunisia for the girls.

Dann O'werre

The battle for which of the three countries that will represent FIBA Africa Zone-3 begin today in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire with Nigeria and Togo waging war on the host country for a place in Libya next year.
Eight countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Liberia and Togo) were initially billed to take part in the week long elimination series but information gathered from Yamoussoukro indicate that only three countries out of the eight are on ground for the battle ahead.
Most of the countries that pulled out of the qualifiers sited lack of fund as the reason why they are not part of the zone fiesta.
Host Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria are however, favoured ahead their Togolese counterpart but if what befall the likes of Nigeria and Senegal at the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship for Men in Angola where they failed to reach the semi-finals is anything to go by then both Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria must be at their wit end to survive Togo.
The opening game will be played this evening at 19:00 hours between Côte d’Ivoire and Togo.

By Olusegun Ikuesan

Champions Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Lions sterling run in the premier league continued when they hit Kisumu lakeside 66-54 in a top match at Nyayo National Stadium gmnasium.
The bankers, who have now gone eleven matches without a loss in their best start ever in the league in over two decades, now have 22 points. Tobias Onyango continued to lead the team in scoring when he posted 18 points while Yoni Wanambiro added 14.
Visiting Lakeside put up a big fight taking the second quarter 15-11 but trailed in the rest with the worst coming in the last quarter where KCB had a 20-10 edge. Joshua Charles nailed 14 while Eric Nyamai scored 11 for the losers.
United States International University (USIU) produced their best performance to upset former champions Co-operative Bank of Kenya 78-61 in an exiting Premier League clash.
The fired up students, in their best game this year, led from start to finish never giving the bankers any room to breathe and thoroughly deserved their victory in this Sunday fixture.
Abel Nson had a great game scoring game high 26 points while launching some of his long range three pointers with great precision. Papillon Odhiambo was a thorn as he forced his body inside for another 12 points.
Co-op, who have now lost three matches to Lions and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), were pepped by Cliff Ochieng who nailed 25 while Johnson Karonji added 13.
In the women's main battle, Eagle Wings hit Sprite Storms 52-45 behind 22 points from Angela Okoth and her national team mate Caroline Achieng who scored 14.
The losers who had beaten Strathmore University 75-43 were ahead 18-16 at half time had 13 from Emma Nyakweba and 11 from Linda Alando.
Bottom club Nakuru Club had a strong home support as they whipped Blazers 85-66 in the lower division match played at the Menengai High School courts.

Posta maintained their marvellous show since their return to top flight ball with a emphatic 75-51 win over Lomboritz in a game that saw the team become the first to slam away three consecutive dunks in the game's twenty one year history.
Led by Franklin Delano, German Fabian Wehring and William Otieno historic back to back dunks, Posta raced to a 40-25 advantage at the breather and won with ease. Otieno hit 21 points and Wehring 12. The losers had 12 each from Melvin Oketch and Dennis Chute.
"I am very exitiged at the way my boys played this match toady. Even without a shot clock, they were in focus through out the proceedings." said coach Ronny Owino

Kisumu Lakeside dismissed Strathmore University 62-47 after a low scoring 27-21 half time lead. Absalom Ojiem scored 18 points while Chris Abuto added 19 for Dave Michael's boys who were in total control of the proceedings.

Dann OWERE

The final leg of the Royal Hoopers Classics has entered the crucial stage with finals slated for Tuesday evening.

For all the teams that have been part of it, it has been one swell time for them as the players and officials have had to play their hearts out to the satisfaction of the audience that daily thronged the Police Officers Mess at the old GRA in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State South South Nigeria.

Surprise of the championships has been the inability of last year's defending champions Ebun Comet to get into the semi-final sage as they were edged out on Sunday when they lost their game to Union Bank basketball club by 48-37 points in a grudge game that saw the Stallion boys making that extra effort to be part of the final stages of the chaqmpionship.

In Group A are host, Royal Hoopers, Bayelsa Waves, Free Nets, FCT Rocks coached by Emma Odah and Delta Force while Ebun Comet, the 2007 champions who had to fight their way to no avail failed to qualify; Dodan Warriors, 2006 champions, Chariots basketball of Lagos, Union Bank basketball cluband Nsuka Lions of Enugu slugged it out for positions in the finals.

The winners of the championship will go home with a cash reward while all other participating teams get appearance fees as well as transport subsidies and accomodation.

The final leg of the Royal Hoopers Classics has entered the crucial stage with finals slated for Tuesday evening.

For all the teams that have been part of it, it has been one swell time for them as the players and officials have had to play their hearts out to the satisfaction of the audience that daily thronged the Police Officers Mess at the old GRA in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State South South Nigeria.

Surprise of the championships has been the inability of last year's defending champions Ebun Comet to get into the semi-final sage as they were edged out on Sunday when they lost their game to Union Bank basketball club by 48-37 points in a grudge game that saw the Stallion boys making that extra effort to be part of the final stages of the chaqmpionship.

In Group A are host, Royal Hoopers, Bayelsa Waves, Free Nets, FCT Rocks coached by Emma Odah and Delta Force while Ebun Comet, the 2007 champions who had to fight their way to no avail failed to qualify; Dodan Warriors, 2006 champions, Chariots basketball of Lagos, Union Bank basketball cluband Nsuka Lions of Enugu slugged it out for positions in the finals.
The winners of the championship will go home with a cash reward while all other participating teams get appearance fees as well as transport subsidies and accomodation.

By Dann O’werre

Champions Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Lions’ sterling run in the Basketball Premier League continued when they hit Kisumu Lakeside 66-54 in a top match at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium.
The bankers, who have had 11 matches unbeaten in their best start ever in the league in more than two decades, now have 22 points. Tobias Onyango continued to lead the team in scoring when he posted 18 points, while Yoni Wanambiro added 14.

Second Quarter
Visiting Lakeside put up a big fight, taking the second quarter 15-11, but trailed in the rest with the worst coming in the last quarter where KCB had a 20-10 edge. Joshua Charles nailed 14, while Eric Nyamai scored 11 for the losers.

In the women’s main battle, Eagle Wings hit Sprite Storms 52-45 behind 22 points from Angela Okoth and her national team-mate Caroline Achieng who scored 14. The losers, who were ahead 18-16 at half time, had 13 points from Emma Nyakweba and 11 from Linda Alando.
Bottom club Nakuru had a strong home support as they whipped Blazers 85-66 in the lower division match at the Mengai High School courts.

In the Nairobi Basketball Association league matches at Nairobi Railways Club, Kenya College of Accountancy hit Emyba 38-26, Don Bosco crushed Friends of Basketball 70-47, Trail Blazers hit Old Pirates 54-40, Baraka thumped Madison 66-47, while Mennonites beat World Hope 61-21 in a women’s game.

Meanwhile, the under-18 girls’ national team for next week’s Zone Five qualifier in Uganda received a blow when a key player, Yvonne Mashedi, withdrew.

Scholarship

Kenya Basketball Federation secretary, Vitalis Gode, told FeverPitch yesterday that Mashedi, who also turns out for Premier League side Sprite Storms, pulled out as she is pursuing a scholarship to study in the UK.

The other players yet to report to camp are Prime Minsiter’s daughter, Winnie Odinga, who is out of the country, but will join the team on Wednesday, and Kisumu-based Debrah Obunga who join the squad today.
Gode said the team would leave for Kampala by road on Sunday. The regional junior event throws off at Lugogo Indoor Stadium on Monday.

In the boys category one player is in western, two in Mombasa five in Nyanza, while seven are in Nairobi undergoing non-residential training under coach David Maina.

The four American-based coaches who were part of the first Royal Hoopers Basketball Camp for elite players which ran from August 27 through 30 in the city of Port-Harcourt, Alex Nwaora, Head coach of Erie Community College, Buffallo, New York and head of the Global Sports advantage, Jackie Knowles, Tyrone Duren and Myke Scholl have pledged to return to the Garden City next year for the camp.

Coach Nwaora, who spoke on behalf of other coaches said they never imagined to see the great turn out of players as they saw at the camp.
'I must confess, it was a great camp and though it was hard work keeping pace with the kids, we had great fun teaching the kids what they should know about the game.'
'It has been three wonderful days its fun filled camping for players who showed great enthusiasm to learn. And from what we saw and given the openness of the organisers, we're ready to do more for Nigeria basketball because there is great potential here I must confess.'

He stated that despite having been part of several camps over the years, he is glad to be associated with the Royal Hoopers Elite camp which for him has been one of the very best. 'There's so much to be done for our basketball in Nigeria and and with the right environment, we can go all the way.'

Awardees at the camp included Joefry Moses of Royal Hoopers emerged the most promising player, the most hard working camper went to Olalekan Ajayi of Dodan Warriors, Most Improved camper went to Yemi Makanjuola of the Police Rookies team, while the 3 MVP All-Star game went to Deji Egbeyemi of Ebun Comet and the Most Valuable camper emerged Harry Ezenibe of AHIP basketball club.

by Olusegun Ikuesan