Basketball in Africa

By Hassan Abdullah, Zanzibar

Stone Town cruised to Karume Cup basketball title after beating Police team by 60-47 points in the final match played at the Gymkhana courts in Zanzibar on Saturday.

The Gymkhana court was filled to capacity during the match played to honour Zanzibar�s founder president Abeid Amani Karume. Zanzibar president Karume was the guest of honour.
The thrilling match was spiced up by the political rivalry existing between fans of the teams.
The match started at a cracking pace with each side launching attacks amid cheers from spectators and the guest of honour who were kept spellbound throughout.
Making use of their stalwarts, Masha Humud who notched ten points, Ali Upepo, Said Marine, Fuadi Kassim and Nabil Ali, Stone Town kept their opponents at bay.
Police players, Abbas Himid, Saidi Bilu, Baraka Uzia and Ramadhan Zimbwe, put up an impressive show, but would not match the winner�s pace. Stone Town is coached by an American national, Raymond Dwight.
In the ladies category, JKU narrowly beat Nyuki by 29-28 to emerge winners of the tourney. Winners of both men and women teams were awarded cash prizes to the tune of Sh500,000. Second placed and third place finishers took home Sh400,000 and Sh300,000 respectively.
Police men�s team player Mohamed Kassim and JKU�s Pili Peter were voted as the tournament�s most outstanding players to win Sh50,000 prize.
Meanwhile, a mobile phone service providers, Tigo, presented 20 sets of jerseys and 20 balls worth Sh3 million to all teams who competed in the tourney.
Basketball Association of Zanzibar (BAZA) secretary general Abdul Abdulrahman Mohammed expressed his appreciation to Tigo for the sponsorship and donation.