Basketball in Africa

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.