Basketball in Africa

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

Trophy drought goes on for another year

IT could now take Espoir much longer for them to lift the Gisembe Memorial title after Sunday’s 83-70 defeat against APR’s indomitable lions.

The Rafiki-based side came close to causing a major upset before running out of gas when it mattered most.

After toiling for most parts of the game (11-17, 17-21, 17-22), Espoir crawled back into the game with a top notch fourth quarter display which was spearheaded by their veteran shooting forward Valery Uwineza and upcoming talent Leonel Hakizimana.
Was APR’s Gaylord Ndugu receives the Gisembe trophy.
The pair raked in 18 points in the fourth quarter to bring back to life their seemingly dejected crowd that had filled Amahoro’s indoor court.

With just over a minute to go, Espoir were six points adrift however, two-three pointers from Karim Nkusi annihilated their hopes as the reigning champions broke away to win the title for a record fifth successive time.

In the other categories, Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) lifted the juniors’ title after their 84-78 win over Lycee de Kigali while APR beat Burundi’s Les Gazelles on points’ average to claim the women prize.

The event organizers (Espoir) last won the tournament in 2004, the same year they won the national league, their last piece of silverware.

The three-day event, jointly sponsored by CNLG, MMI, Ministry of Sports and Culture and Belvedere is an annual event held in memory of Espoir great Emmanuel ‘Gisembe’ Ntawungera and several basketball players, administrators and fans who perished during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.

Gisembe, a force to reckon with in the center position was one of many top basketball talents who died during the 1994 mayhem.
“He was one of the best players to grace Rwandan basketball.

Together with his team mates, they had taken the sport to a whole new level,” said Espoir’s vice president Pierre Umunyangabe, who also coached Espoir between 1994 and 2004.

Reigning national league champions KCB Lions beat United States International University (USIU) 53-49 to maintain their unbeaten run in the premier league in a tough match played at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium.

The bankers had a close 14-13 first quarter lead and topped 20-12 in the second. After the break, both teams had trouble hitting the target with KCB taking a 12-10 edge in the third before being out scored 14-7 in the last by the gritty students.
Tobias Onyango led Lions with 13 points while Victor Odendo made 12 who have now gone six games without a loss and have maximum 12 points. USIU, who have played four matches with only a win, had 10 frm Zadock Adika.

Former national champions Co-operative Bank of Kenya were taken to the wire by Strathmore University Blades who sadly went on to lose 70-69 in a tough encounter simply because they were unable to execute from the line
Co-op must thank Richard Osano who scored their 26 points with the nimble but lethal guard from Allan Ouma sinking another. Leading the unlucky students were the slamming Philip Amenyi who had 19 points and the ever lethal Ken Maru who hit 14.

Early pace setters International Christian Center (ICC) recored the highest score this year when they crushed University of Nairobi "Terrorists" 105-45 in a one sided demolition. The architect of the that whitewash were Phil Dinga and Griffin Ligare.

Dinga nailed 31 points while Ligare tossed in 23 for ICC who took all the fiour quarters with a 23-8,20-14,25-10 and 33-13 scoreline. The losers, who will rue the departure of some key players, had nothing to show defensively. Sammy Kiria recored 15 points.

This win saw ICC move back to the second spot nine points from five games followed by Co-operative Bank of Kenya

Yana put up their best show this year with a deserved 66-55 thumping of USIU Flames. The victors led 32-30 at the break before going overdrive after the break with a 34-25 tear. Ruth Wasike was hot for 26 points for Yana while Samba Mjomba nailed 11 for the losers.

The previous day they put up a pale show before succumbing 25-38 to the impressive Kenya College of Accountancy (KCA) University in another match. KCA moved to the second slot behind Sprite Storms with seven points.

Strathmore University Swords dismal show continued when they were felled 40-46 by Mennonites led superbly by Susan Anyango who bagged 20 points. Grace Wanjiku gave the losers 13 points. Before this meeting, both sides were yet to win any game.

Mennonites were unstoppable in their two game fixtures, they put up a sterling show to thrash Africa Nazarene University (ANU) 85-54. This effort followed
a 72-67 win over Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC). Parklands lose 43-58 to World Hope.

In the Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA) matches played at the Railways Club, Trailblazers jumped to the top of the standings with an easy 60-28 whipping of Nairobi Deaf Kings. Steve Okwako was the key with 26 points.

They also thrashed leaders Friends of Basketball (FOB) 61-41 as Dennis Oyaro potted 12 points. Achega led the losers with 18. Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) hit Satelite Mercenaries 67-43 behind 22 points from Kevin Otieno.

Satelite had 14 from Brian Nyongesa. Baraka Xtreme were stunned 50-45 by Balozi who had 15 from Savio Kanyanya, Calvin Apwoka led the Thika side with 12.

Old Pirates dismissed Upper Hill School 42-38 as Eugene Mwazakhale scored 10 points while the students, who are gaining enormously from the experience at this level, had 14 from the hard working Stephen Migose.

Kenya Polytechnic also had it easy posting a deserved 56-31 win over the slumping Emyba.Nairobi Aviation College (NAC) went past Old Pirates 66-53. Jeff Ssozi nailed 15 points while Ken Murema shot the losers 15.

Lawrence Wandera scored 15 to guide Kenya Polytechnic posted a 57-32 win over Don Bosco who had 11 points from Steve Sassi. Balozi beat Upper hill School 44-37 as Kanyanya hit 19 points while the students Migose shot 15.

In the only ladies tie, Predators had former international Wilkister Oduor sinking 18 points in an easy 52-18 win over Kenya Polytechnic. They also emerged victorious with a 64-32 whipping of World Hope.

Dann OWERRE
FIBA Africa

By Charles Mutebi

MTN-FUBA League
Men division 1:
Marines 63 Lions 56
Women
Canons 100 Cubs 46
Crane High 98 Amazon 34

IF the Nkumba Marines reach the MTN-FUBA men’s first division playoffs for the first time since 2006, Phillip Wakimwero will be a major reason why.

He was once again in inspiring form on Sunday, dropping a chart-topping 23 points on the KCC Lions to lead the Marines to a 63-56 win, their third of the league season.
It was another on the growing list of memorable displays from the gifted youngster who joined the two-time champions from Crane High this season. Marines coach Peter Odeke has been impressed by the rise to significance of his new star and he is no doubt about his importance to the team.
“He is like the crux of the team,” conceded Odeke after the match. “Offensively and also defensively, I think he is a crucial factor. He is the one guy you can depend on to deliver.”

Along with Lad Ikungura, who also joined from Crane High at the start of the season, Wakimwero has led Nkumba’s transformation from an afterthought to a playoffs contender.
Last year, the Marines had their worst season following the departure of Norman and Donald Blick and ended the campaign way out of the playoffs.
“We are definitely looking at the playoffs,” Odeke explained.
“We have only played five games, so I don’t know what will happen in the last four games of the first round of this season.”

Meanwhile, the Lions have one win in seven matches. Forget the playoffs, survival is what’s on KCC’s mind.

By erick ochieng’

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) on Sunday granted teams voting rights at the national level.

The decision was made following day-long meeting at Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday where the KBF chiefs unanimously agreed to ratify the act in the constitution by August.

Teams will now have authority to keep the national office in check. The kick-off of the KBF Classic League was delayed for more than a month early in the year as a standoff ensued between team managers, who wanted clubs to be granted voting rights at the national level, and KBF officials.

KBF on Sunday called for teams to be member affiliates, saying this would help strengthen their relationship. This would be done at a fee, which is yet to be decided by the federation.

Best-of-five

The federation also gave teams, which have not paid the league fees and players’ transfer money until Friday to do so.
"We have problems running the league due to lack of funds and this will make management easy," said KBF Fixtures Secretary Joseph Amoko.
The meeting also resolved that eight top teams from men’s Premier League, women’s Premier League, and men’s Division One each would qualify for the play-offs, which would be played on home and away basis, at the end of the year.

Like other leagues

Teams which make it to the finals would then play their matches to the best-of-five series like other leagues across the world.

Meanwhile, Mennonites continued with their good run by defeating Africa Nazarene University (ANU) 85-64 at a Men Division One match played at Nyayo Gymnasium on Sunday.

Collins Ochieng scored a game-high of 28 points for the winners and Edgar Kisali, who was inspiring for ANU, scored 26 points. Strathmore University lost 70-69 to Co-Operative Bank in the men’s Premier League. Strathmore ladies were defeated 46-40 by Mennonites in the women’s Premier League on Saturday.

But Yana, who lost to Kenya College of Accountancy University (KCA-U) 38-25 on Saturday, on Sunday overcame United States International University of Africa 66-55.

In the Nairobi Basketball Association League matches played at Railway Club on Sunday, Balozi edged Baraka Extreme 50-45 as Kenya Polytechnic University defeated Emyba 56-31. Nairobi Aviation also triumphed over Old Pirates.

By erick ochieng’

Mennonites had a fabulous day when they won all their basketball matches at Nyayo National Stadium’s Gymnasium.

Fifth placed Mennonites men edged Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) 72-67, while the women (seventh placed) overcame basement club Strathmore University with a 46- 40 victory in the Men Division One and Women Premier League.

World Hope soared over Parklands Baptist with a 58-43 victory in the Men Division One duel at the same venue.
Mennonites started the game on a rather low key by trailing the University side in the better part of the first quarter.
But Sarah Anyango, who scored a game high 20 points for the winners, broke the jinx with several two pointers to ensure her team won the first quarter 13 -10.
Mennonites again won the second quarter 14-12 to put the results 27-22 at break time to their favour.

athletics activities

Despite the athletics activities at Nyayo yesterday, the Gymnasium had a capacity crowd who thronged to cheer their favourite teams.
On resumption, Mennonites came back strong for the third quarter, which they won 13-11 but lost steam in the last, which they lost to Strathmore 7-6.
Despite the loss Grace Wanjiku was able to give Strathmore 17 points.
George Kidha was the Mennonites marksman in the men’s duel where he scored 13 points in the win
Despite the loss to Mennonites NPC had the most game high score of 17 points, which was netted by Radhi Ndalu in the battle.

NBA league

In the Nairobi Basketball Association League played at the Railway Club, third placed Kenya Polytechnic University defeated Don Bosco 57-43; Trail Blazers, who are second behind Friends of Basketball, walloped Nairobi Deaf Kings 60-28 as Madison (seventh placed) edge Kenya Airport Authority 55-50 in the Men Division Two matches.

In the women’s Division One league, Predators beat World Hope 64-32.

Balozi also taught high school side Upper Hill lessons to win 44-37 in another duel.
Meanwhile, Kenya Basketball Federation officials were yesterday locked up in a meeting to deliberate on issues concerning the federation’s constitution.
This was in response to the pledge the federation gave team managers at the start of the Classic League that the constitution would be reviewed.

Among the issues the team managers wanted changed include the voting pattern at the national level which they said would give them a chance to keep the national office in check.

The Nigerian national team The Tigers entered into camp in Houston, USA by the weekend as planned. The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Mr. Tijani Umar confirmed the schedule in talk with FIBA Africa reporter.

“Yes, its okay in Houston; the players entered into camp on schedule. By the last count 20 players were already except for the two or so players who are expected to team up with their mates on Saturday. From every detail from Houston, everything is working out well,” Umar said.

Ime Udoka and Ike Diogu are expected to join the team on Saturday. Nigeria began the second phase of preparations to Libya 2009 Afrobasket just in time before they were drawn in Group A alongside the hosts Libya Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa. The Houston camp is specifically for the players based in the USA and other leagues across the world as the Nigerian based invitees concluded their camping last week. The few selected from that camp held in Kaduna are expected to join the USA camp. The Houston camp will take a break on July 1st to enable the players take part in the NBA Summer League. This first part of the camping is planned for 24 players based abroad and will take a cut to 14 players when the camp reopens. The final team is expected to fly into Nigeria on July 28th before the departure to Tripoli billed for August 2nd.

By Pius Ayinor, FIBA Africa

International Christian Centre became the first team to cross the century mark in the basketball premier league this season when they whitewashed University of Nairobi’s Terrorists 101-45 in a one-sided encounter at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday.

Also at the same venue, red-hot Mennonites maintained their 100 per cent record when they thrashed African Nazarene University 85-64 while Yana recovered to rock United States International University’s Flames 66-55 in the women’s match.

ICC’s convincing humiliation of the Terrorists did not come as a surprise as man-of the match Philip Dinga started his shooting magic early. He opened the scoring with a three-pointer and his 10 points saw ICC run over the disorganised students 23-8 in the first quarter.

Although their defence did not impress South Africa-trained tactician Faustin Mgendi, ICC enjoyed the fans’ support, with their fanstastic plays earning them a 20-14 lead in the second quarter. The students had nothing to offer, going down 43-23 at the breather.

On resumption, Dinga, Griffins Ligare and Ben Ogolla were all over the court and remained dangerous whenever they got the ball. Rodney Genga got lost leaving Terrorists without any hope of recovering.

In the last quarter, fans finally got what they wanted as ICC responded 100 per cent to their call to reach the century mark. With 26 seconds left, the motivated ICC had two free throws from Dinga, closing the century at 97-44.

Nailed a three-pointer

The crowd behind them, ICC’s Dinga nailed a three-pointer which crossed the century mark at 101-45 as the gymnasium exploded into celebration.

Dinga scored a game-high 31 points which included four three-pointers. Ligare added 23 while Ogolla managed 13 for ICC. Sammy Kiria was lucky to finish the game with 15 points for the students.

Collins Ochieng’ scored a record 30 points as Mennonites completed a double when they defeated ANU 85-64. Still fresh from their Saturday’s 72-67 win over Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Mennonites raced a huge 41-22 half-time lead.

The varsity students only got serious in the third quarter, leading 21-19, but failed to stop their opponents in the other quarters. Edgar Kisali shot 29 points and Yusuf Ramadhan 13 for the losers.

Mediocre show

Flames had their three top players ejected by referee Vincent Kimuyu as they crashed 66-55 to Yana. After a mediocre show against KCA, who hit them 38-25 on Saturday, Yana came back a more organised outfit to lead 32-30 at half-time.

With veterans Samba Mjomba, Everline Nora and Barbara Kithinji falling into foul trouble, little was expected from the students, who only carried home the last quarter 18-17.

Ruth Wasike did Yana proud, scoring 26 points, while Getrude Sagala added 14 and Mjomba shot a game-high 22 points. Debora Chan replied with 14 for Flames.

The top match between champions Kenya Commercial Bank Lions and Tigers of the USIU-A was still in progress by the time we went to press.

By Brown Msyani

Thirty-two coaches are expected to attend FIBA-backed Young Coaches course slated to start on June 29 at Don Bosco courts, Dar es Salaam.

Organised by the Federation of International Basketball Associations(FIBA), the course aims at searching coaching talents among the basketball players.

Tanzania Basketball Federation�s secretary general Lawrence Cheyo said most of the participants are players featuring in the Dar es Salaam premier league(Kili RBA).

Cheyo said Kenya Ronnie Owino is the chief instructor of the five-week course planned to climax on August 6 at the same venue.

Cheyo said there are four veteran coaches also included in the course.They are Said Rubeya (Iringa) Joseph Matle, Jimmy Mkongo from Prisons and William Mziray(Oilers).

Other coaches include Damian Majale from ABC, Meng Meiners, Amne Maulid (Mambo Basket) Said Khamisi (Vijana), Amini Musira (Mwanza),Ramadhani Kalema , Fredrick Marwa and Mohamed Mshale (Pazi).

Also listed to attend it are Cleophace Rutta (Vingunguti Primary School), Daruwesh Shamuni, Mgeni Kiota (CMTU), Obete Mwabongo (Vijana) Lusajo Samwel, Gerald Baru (Oilers ) and Yassin Msira (Dodoma).
The list of coaches goes on with Erick Othman (TSA),Frank Simkoko, Alfred Ngaliji (JKT),John Mcharo and Jahu Mohamed (Vijana),Emanuel Mmwikalo (Airwing), Edwin Malongwa (Dodoma) and Faustin Magige(DIS)

EN vacances depuis quelques jours, le basketteur Abdel Kader Sylla a signé son premier contrat professionnel avec le club SLUC Nancy, en France.

Du haut de ses 2 mètres 05, Sylla sera le capitaine de la formation espoir de Nancy et Abel Sylla est debout 5e de la gaucheespère jouer avec les pros la saison prochaine.
Rencontre avec l’intéressé qui a joué pour Premium Cobras et Baya avant de faire le grand saut en Métropole en novembre 2007.

Sports Nation : Vous avez réalisé votre objectif en signant votre premier contrat pro ?

Abdel Sylla : Ce nouveau contrat stagiaire/pro représente une année de travail. Une année où j’ai bien travaillé avec les coachs des équipes espoir et cadet. J’ai eu des conseils des pros et de beaucoup de gens dans l’entourage, surtout les dirigeants. C’est pour moi un rêve qui va s’accomplir, même si ce n’est pas encore terminé.

Sports Nation : Comment s’est passée votre saison avec les espoirs du SLUC de Nancy ?

Abdel Sylla : C’est toujours un peu difficile de s’adapter à un nouveau système de jeu. Ca m’a pris au moins trois matches pour m’y adapter. Dans la deuxième partie de la saison, j’ai fait de bons matches et réalisé de bonnes statistiques. On a failli être couronné champions. Mais on a terminé deuxièmes ex-aequo avec Le Havre derrière le champion Cholet Basket-ball. J’ai découvert les play-offs pour la première fois, la saison prochaine, l’objectif est de tout gagner.

Sports Nation : On dirait donc que les choses sérieuses vont maintenant commencer pour vous ?

Abdel Sylla : Oui. Les choses sérieuses vont vraiment commencer. Je ne m’attends pas à jouer trop avec les pros cette saison. Peut-être quelques minutes. Mais, je veux découvrir le monde pro.
A l’entraînement je vais me donner à fond avec les pros afin de profiter de leur expérience pour m’améliorer. En espoir, la saison prochaine, on s’attend à ce que je me transcende un peu plus. Comme j’ai signé pour deux années, je pense vraiment commencer à jouer un peu plus de minutes avec les pros. Mais, je prends les choses petit à petit.

Sports Nation : Pensez-vous gagner votre place chez les pros ?

Abdel Sylla : Nancy c’est l’une des meilleures équipes en France. L’équipe a terminé deuxième en championnat et c’est la première fois en cinq ans qu’on n’est pas arrivé en finale. Il n’y a que des internationaux et des Américains qui sont forts. Pour avoir une place dans l’effectif il faut vraiment être au top donc bien travailler.
Il y a un joueur espoir, Seidou N’Joya, qui a signé pro cette année et il sera le deuxième meneur de l’équipe. Il va avoir un rôle très important. Il a toujours été là pour moi. Je l’ai vu travailler dûr à l’entraînement et aujourd’hui son travail a produit des fruits. Si je travaille fort, je peux intégrer l’équipe senior dans quelques années.

Sports Nation : Quel genre de relation entretenez-vous avec vos entraîneurs ?

Abdel Sylla : J’ai un très bon rapport avec les entraîneurs. Mon entraîneur en équipe espoir, Pierre Verdière, m’a beaucoup poussé cette année. Il m’a donné des sessions individuelles avant et après les heures d’entraînement. On a beaucoup travaillé mon shooting extérieur parce que je dois jouer la position numéro 4 qui est un peu plus extérieur comparé à la position 4 aux Seychelles. Je remercie aussi les autres coaches pour leur bon travail. Sans eux, je ne pense pas que ma marge de progression allait être si importante.

Sports Nation : Quel joueur en France t’a impressionné le plus cette saison ?

Abdel Sylla : Je pense au Français Cyril Julian, l'intérieur international français, âgé de 35 ans et qui a un palmarès énorme. Il faisait partie de l'équipe de France médaille d'argent aux Jeux Olympiques de Sydney en l'an 2000. Il est passé pro à l’âge de 18 ans et vient de prendre sa retraite. Il a toujours été très bon.

Sports Nation : Pensez-vous à l’équipe nationale des Seychelles ?

Abdel Sylla : J’y pense toujours. Je vise la médaille d’or aux Huitièmes Jeux des îles de l’Océan Indien (JIOI) en 2011 parce que la manière dont on a perdu en 2007 (à Madagascar) me reste toujours à la gorge.

Sports Nation : Votre ancienne équipe Baya connaît une bonne saison et se comporte bien dans le championnat dont elle est la championne…

Abdel Sylla : C’est vrai. Baya commence à être une vraie force dans le basket-ball seychellois. C’est bien qu’une autre équipe vienne bousculer la hiérarchie. Je pense que la deuxième moitié du championnat sera très intéressant. Une autre équipe qui m’a impressionné est Mont Fleuri Dawgz avec ses jeunes joueurs qui peuvent réussir au niveau professionnel si on leur donne la possibilité.

Sports Nation : Est-ce que les entraîneurs français cherchent à savoir des infos sur des joueurs seychellois ?

Abdel Sylla : Quand je suis parti en France, les Français ne croyaient pas que les Seychellois pourraient jouer au basket-ball. Parce que là-bas quand on parle des Seychelles on voit toujours les plages, le farniente, la joie de vivre. Je leur ai montré à présent que les Seychelles c’est aussi le travail tous les jours, et la volonté de réussir comme partout ailleurs. A cet égard je crois que je suis un ambassadeur du basket-ball seychellois. Si je réussis, ça ne va pas être que pour moi. Ça va être aussi pour tout le monde sportif seychellois.

Sports Nation : Finalement, comment se passe vos études ?

Abdel Sylla : Je viens de passer mon baccalauréat en comptabilité et j’attends les résultats. Comme stagiaire/pro, je ne pourrais pas partir à l’école parce que je dois m’entraîner le matin et l’après-midi avec les deux équipes. Mais, je ne vais pas négliger les études parce qu’on ne sait jamais ce qui peut t’arriver dans ta carrière. Je vais peut-être passer un diplôme d’entraîneur.

Propos recueillis par G. G.

SUBRATA/LIBYA/ 26th June 2009 (FIBA Africa Nations Championship for men) – FIBA Africa, in cooperation with the Libyan Arab Basketball Federation, hosted today in Subrata the draw for the 2009 FIBA Africa Nations Championship for men.

The 25th FIBA Africa Nations Championship for men (Afrobasket Libya 2009) will be played from 05th to 15th August 2009 in Tripoli and Benghazi (Libya) with 16 Africans National teams.

Please find below the result of the draw, as well as the complete event schedule.

1.Composition of groups:

Group A: Libya, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa
Group B: Angola, Mozambique, Egypt and Mali
Group C: Cameroon, Senegal, Congo and Central Africa
Group D: Cape Verde, Morocco, Rwanda and Tunisia

The groups A and B will play in Benghazi while the groups C and D will play in Tripoli.

Please find below the games schedule:

2. Preliminary Round:

5th August 2009:

Group A:
Game A1:Libya vs South Africa
Game A2:Nigeria vs. Côte d’Ivoire

Group B:
Game B1:Angola vs.Mali
Game B2:Mozambique vs.Egypt

Group C:
Game C1:Cameroon vs.Central Africal
Game C2:Senegal vs.Congo

Group D:
Game D1:Cape Verde vs.Tunisia
Game D2:Morocco vs. Rwanda

6th August 2009:

Group A:
Game A3:Côte d’Ivoire vs. Libya
Game A4:South Africa vs. Nigeria

Group B:
Game B3:Egypt vs. Angola
Game B4:Mali vs. Mozambique

Group C:
Game C3:Congo vs.Cameroon
Game C4:Central Africa vs. Senegal

Group D:
Game D3:Rwanda vs. Cape Verde
Game D4:Tunisia vs.Morocco

7th August 2009:

Group A:
Game A5:Libya vs. Nigeria
Game A6:Côte d’Ivoire vs. South Africa

Group B:
Game B5:Angola vs.Mozambique
Game B6:Egypt vs.Mali

Group C:
Game C5:Cameroon vs.Senegal
Game C6:Congo vs. Central Africa

Group D:
Game D5: Cape Verde vs.Morocco
Game D6:Rwanda vs.Tunisia

Time of the games will be given later.

About FIBA AFRICA

FIBA AFRICA (www.fiba-afrique.org), the African governing body for basketball, is an independent association formed by 53 National Federations of basketball throughout Africa. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Its main upcoming events are the 2009 FIBA Africa Nations Championships for Men and Women, to be staged in Libya and in Madagascar respectively, the 2009 FIBA Africa U16 Nations Championship for men and women to be played in Mozambique and Senegal respectively and also the 2009 FIBA Africa Champions Cup for men and women to be held later this year.

The U16 male team of Nigeria beat today Benin team 73 - 40 in the day 2 of the joint preliminaries of U16 zone 3 for men and women, played in Cotonou, Benin.

However, Benin started well the game by wining the first quarter (18 – 05) but face a huge come back of Nigeria and despite lost the second quarter, reached the break with 26 – 25 points advance. At the resume, Nigeria kept on scoring and won the third quarter 20 - 06. Nigeria widely won the last quarter (28 – 08) and clinched its second victory with 73 – 40 points win after beating yesterday Burkina Faso 105 – 40 in the day 1.

For the third and last day to be played tomorrow, Benin will play against Burkina in men category for the second place as Nigeria secured the first place. In women game, Burkina Faso will face Nigeria in second leg game after losing the first leg 31 – 102.

by Sande Bashaija
Kampala

Today at Lugogo
Riders v UCU Canons 5pm
KIU v DMark Power 8.30pm
Women
KCC Leopards v Rangers 7pm
Wednesday results
Livingstone 73-84 Berkley
Jammers 72-75 Kings

Action speaks louder than words, they say. That’s the philosophy MTN-Fuba League defending champions DMark Power are sticking to going into the final game of the first round.

The three-time champions face Kampala International University (KIU) at Lugogo Indoor Stadium tonight hoping to stretch their winning streak to nine games.

The DMark Mobile-sponsored team started the season with an aim of winning all their games but Power technical director Peter Mubanda isn’t taking his opponents tonight for granted. Asked if he feels the team can finish the season unbeaten, Mubanda said; “I won’t go into that.

We are taking it a game at a time.” KIU, the team with arguably the most talented players in the league, have been disappointing this season winning only once in five outings.

But with their array of stars including Michael Karuiki, Markmort Orom and Jeff Mwaniki, the Kasanga-based side can upset any team on a good day. And although many would give them no chance against Power, KIU are always full of surprises yet they desperately need to halt their poor run.

Winless in five games, Knight Riders have an opportunity to get off the mark when they face Uganda Christian University (UCU) Canons in the day’s first game. The Entebbe-based Riders have not played at the Lugogo indoor stadium, which has put them on a collision path with the basketball federation technical committee.

Riders argue that the technical committee ‘favours’ other teams at their expense. KCC Leopards face KIU Rangers in the women’s only game.

The U16 male and female teams of Nigeria beat today Burkina Faso teams in the day 1 of the joint preliminaries of U16 zone 3 for men and women, played in Cotonou, Benin.
The U16 male team of Nigeria beat Burkina 105 – 40 while the female team of Burkina bowed to Nigeria 31 – 102.

The third game of the day 1 between Benin girls and Côte d’Ivoire girls has ben cancelled as Côte d’Ivoire did not make the move to Cotonou.

By Oliver Albert

ABC have started early preparations in a bid to perform better in the forthcoming East African Zone Five Basketball Championship.

The east African championship is set to tee off on July 27 and reach its climax on August 5 in Kampala, Uganda.
ABC, who lost their National Basketball League (NBL) title to JKT in Mwanza, are determined to restore their status by winning regional event.
Jeshi Stars would make their first appearance in the tournament as they represent the country in women category.
ABC's head coach Leonard Kwale said the team was intensively training at Mgulani Camp courts.
"We want to show the region what we are capable of that's why we decided to start preparations very early," he said.

Kwale said his players had learnt from their previous defeat to JKT and are ready to overturn poor season with better performance in the Zone Five tourney.
"We have the best players who can outdo our opponents easily, so I am confident we'll make it to the last four," the coach said.

He said they would consider any result below the last four as complete failure.

The coach said none of the teams would pose a threat to his side apart from Kenyan teams that boast of many talented players.
"I saw most of their players during the Intercity Basketball tournament and my players looked superior in all sections. Only Kenyans can trouble us," he said.

The team will rely on its prolific players Gilbert Batungi, Ephraim Mwaipungu, Haleluya Kavalambi and John Pastory.
This championship has attracted the teams from Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and the host.

Three teams will represent Tanzania in the zonal championship. Others are JKT Stars(women) and JKT(men).

by Sande Bashaija
Kampala

Tomorrow
Men
Riders v UCU Canons 5pm
KIU v D Mark Power 8.30pm
Women
KCC Leopards v Rangers 7pm

Miracle Eagles have beefed up their technical bench by bringing on board former DMark Power coach Barnes Ankunda.

The former Nkumba Marines guard started work with the Rubaga side on Tuesday after developing misunderstandings with reigning champions Power. “I got fed up with Power after management started telling me who to field in particular games,” Ankunda, a championship winner with Marines as a player, told Daily Monitor yesterday. “I am now here (at Miracle), looking forward to a fresh challenge.”

As an assistant coach to Andrew Baziira, Barnes was credited for stablising the Power ship throughout last season in which the team lost their legend Wilbrod Okecho to bullet wounds. When Baziira left at the beginning of this season, Ankunda took over as Power head coach.

“People overlook Barnes but he has done a good job. Players do respect what he does and all credit to him,” the then Power captain Isaac Afidra told Daily Monitor shortly before last season’s play-offs.

Disgruntled that Power technical director Peter Mubanda interfered in his work, Ankunda wants to transform Miracle and prove to everyone that he is a technically gifted coach. “I know they (Miracle) have had a bad start to the season but I am ready to change everything. Playing defence is their biggest problem but I will fix it and make sure the team makes the play-offs,” he promised.

Mubanda, who has since appointed Brian Wathum as Power head coach, said Ankunda walked out on the team. “We have a technical team which makes suggestions to the coach and that was the situation with Barnes,” he said.
Ankunda takes over from Sam Obol, who is being pestered to play having signed a coach-player contract.

Reigning national champions KCB Lions and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA are firmly on course for their successive titles as both teas still remain unbeaten in the two month old premier league.

Lions over the weekend nipped Posta 59-57 in a top clash played at the Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium before a rousing crowd. But KPA also remain unbeaten despite having no league game in the past two weeks.

The two giants, who won last year's crowns by dismissing Co-operative bank of Kenya and Eagle Wings in the play off finals respectively are in no ninsense mood. While Lions sill have to play KPA, the porters will ciontend with Eastern Queens and Wings.

Former national champions Co-operative Bank of Kenya also won over Lombiritz 71-42 after being stunned 68-48 by KPA a few days ago. United States International University (USIU) Tigers mauled UoN Terrorists 63-56.

Eagle Wings, whose only loss was a sad walkover against Eastern Queens thrashed Mennonites 60-32 while Eastern Queens also stopped Kenya College of Accountancy (KCA) University to remain unbeaten in the women category.

USIU Flames, taught a harsh lesson by KPA after that humiliating 75-15 loss in Mombasa, had to fight tooth and nail before torching Sprite Storms 45-38 in another hard fought game over the weekend.

Two teams UoN Terrorists in the men's category and Strathmore University Swords as well as Mennonites remain the only teams still without a win in the league race that got under way in April.

PREMIER MEN

TEAM P W L F Pts

1 KCB LIONS 5 5 0 0 10
2 POSTA 4 3 1 - 7
3 ICC 4 3 1 - 7
4 KPA 4 3 1 - 7
5 CO-OP 4 2 2 - 6
6 LOMBORITZ 6 1 5 - 6
7 STRATHMORE 3 1 2 - 4
8 USIU 3 1 2 - 4
9 TERROR 5 0 1 - 4


PREMIER WOMEN

TEAM P W L F Pts

1 STORMS 6 3 3 - 9
2 KPA 3 3 0 - 6
3 E.QUEENS 3 3 0 - 6
4 KCA-UNIV 3 2 1 - 5
5 E.WINGS 3 2 1 1 4
6 USIU 3 1 2 - 4
7 MENNONITES 4 0 4 - 4
8 YANA 3 1 1 1 3
9 STRATHMORE 3 0 3 - 3

Cotonou, the capital of Benin will host from 25th to 28th June 2009, the joint preliminaries of U16 zone 3 for men and women.
Four (4) male teams and three (3) female teams will attend the competition and at the end, the two best of each category will qualify for the final rounds of the first ever edition of U16 Africa Nations Championships to be played in Dakar, Senegal (women) and in Maputo, Mozambique (men) later this year.

The technical meeting has been held yesterday in Cotonou under the direction of the technical Commissioner from Niger, Mr. Tateye Mohamed.

The teams list :

Women : Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Men : Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

AFTER a stellar display in the first round of this year’s national basketball league, Marine’s Elibo Ilunga has been rewarded with a call up on the 17-man provisional national team for this year’s Afrobasket competition in Libya.

The shooting guard has earned a reputation as one of the better players in the league, both on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball. His ability to penetrate to the basket whenever he wants to, find his teammates and score freely is the reason Marine ended their first round campaign in second place behind league champions APR.

He averaged over 20 points per game making him one of the league’s top scorers. Ilunga will fight for a starting place with APR’s Karim Nkusi and Espoir’s veteran Valery Uwineza although Rwanda’s sensational Hamza Ruhezamihigo can also play as a two-man.

Rwanda’s head coach Vaceslav Kavedzija has kept faith in Uwineza despite a shaky first round league display. Other notable inclusions in the team include Robert Thomson and Marine’s Aboubacar Barame among others.

The team, who started training on Sunday are holding two daily sessions; in the morning (8am-11am) and evening (6pm-8pm).

The FIBA Africa Nations Championship (Afrobasket Libya 2009) is slated for August 5-15 in Tripoli, Libya and Rwanda has targeted a top eight finish. “With early preps and the players we have, we should atleast make the quarter-finals. Anything short of that will be below par,” the national basketball federation president Eric Kalisa recently stated.

Rwanda, the only East African nation to ever play in the competition will be making her second appearance in the biannual event after a historic debut in 2007 where she finished 12th.

The top three nations in the event will earn tickets to next year’s FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

Provisional squad:
Aboubacar Barame, Aristide Mugabe, Gaylord Ndugu, Hamza Ruhezamihigo, Fiston Muhire, Mike Buzangu, Elibo Ilunga, Umande Mwanapua, Karim Aime Nkusi, Albert Rukundo, Serge Kabangu, Kami Kabange, Robert Thomson, Patrick Cyenge, Danys Kirenga, Valery Uwineza and Leonel Hakizimana.

LAGOS (Premier League) - MultiChoice Nigeria and the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Tuesday night publicly announced their sponsorship deal for the Nigerian Premier League for men. The cheque presentation in Lagos marked the highlight of a deal that negotiations began early last year.

“DSTV is here for the long haul,” Joseph Hundah the Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria said at the media briefing. “We are very serious about this sponsorship and that is why we have been fully involved with the entire planning and packaging. We want to support the game of basketball here until it becomes the biggest sport in Nigeria.”

The deal guarantees the Premier League N46 million every season for the next three years from the next season. But for this remaining part of this season, MultiChoice is making available the sum of N25 million as the Federation holds a shortened form of the league to select the continental representatives for African champions League holding at the last quarter of the year.

The President of the NBBF Tijani Umar said that the Federation was determined to lift the game in every aspect. “We are handling this deal and indeed every aspect of our programmes with new ideas, passion for the game and we’ll bend backwards to sustain this relationship. For this season it will be quick fixtures but it will not be abridged because it will have every aspect of our full league pattern except the Road Trip,” Umar said.

The season is expected to hold largely in July just in time for the African Nations Cup starting August 5th in Libya. The teams in Atlantic and Savannah Conferences of the league will play intra conference games and produce the top two teams that will feature in the Final-four play off. A total of 11 teams competed in the league last season but the remaining slot in the Atlantic is expected to be filled up this term.

With MultiChoice, a satellite television network owner as sponsors, the Premier League will, for the first time, be shown live on the SuperSport network across the continent of Africa. The play off will be the major highlight for this season. But even with the involvement of MultiChoice and SuperSport, clubs have been told they are free to seek their individual sponsors whose logo can appear on their jerseys and pitch panels.

This new deal brings back top class entertainment to the Nigerian league after the pull out of former Vmobile (now Zain) from basketball and sports sponsorship as a result of change of ownership and company marketing policies. The league was played fully last season without any corporate sponsorship.

By Pius Ayinor, FIBA Africa

By Brown Msyani

Ali Hassan Mwinyi School (Ahmec) will tour Mombasa next month for a series of friendly basketball matches against coastal teams.

School director Solomon Mjema said his boys and girls� teams would travel to Kenya when the Dar es Salaam Basketball League (SBL) ends.
The SBL is scheduled to kick off next week at the National Indoor Stadium.
Mjema said the tour would serve to hone his players' skills besides getting international exposure.
"It will be good for my players because they�ll experience new challenges�we�ve played against many local teams, thus it's high time we tested ourselves against Kenyan teams," he said.

Last year, the same school teams toured Nairobi and won all their friendly matches.
"In our school, basketball is taught in classrooms like other subjects. Our intention is to uplift the standard of the sport," he said

The Nigeria Basketball Federation Sunday released the list of the national U16 male and female teams to the FIBA Africa Zone-III qualifiers billed for Cotonuou, Benin Republic from June 24 through 28.

The U16 men team is led by youthful and dynamic point guard, Peter Odia of the Rookie Basketball Academy.
Young Odia is taunted to become of the world best point guard if given proper guidance.
Others in the team are Sesugh Ikima, Alhaji Umar, Mohammed Ismail, Yarwan Daniel, Kabir Isah, Yamsat Nnamma, Kelechi Anacheiunwa, Christopher Obekha, Sarki Abdulsalam Yiljep Yilret and Daniel Ganga.

The female list includes Atosu Upe, Samira Mohammed, Sandra Eleumuku, Akpesi Ugah, Chukwuedo Emmanuel, Eva Atunuwa, Tolu Alabi, Joan Afimia, Lillian Achimba, Sharon Ogahrandu, Blessing Amos and Sandra Udobi.
Coaches of the teams, Adamu Kuta and Adewumi Aderemi are confident that Nigeria will come out top at the qualifiers which will involve eight countries that made up the zone.
Other countries in the zone are, host Benin, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.
Two countries will qualify to represent the zone at the maiden edition of the championship slated for Dakar, Senegal in July and Maputo, Mozambique in September.
Secretary General of the Nigeria federation, Francis Gbiri discloses that the teams will jet out to Cotonuo, on Tuesday while hostilities are expected to begin on Wednesday through Sunday.

By: Olusegun Ikuesan
FIBA Africa

Bigwig of the Nigeria Basketball Federation Monday described its meeting with the management of the sponsor of the nation’s women league, Zenith Bank Plc as very fruitful.

The Monday meeting is the first phase of the numerous activities lined up towards the first jump-ball of the 2009 Zenith Bank Women league starting July 2 in Kaduna.
First Vice-President of the Nigeria federation, Muktar Khaleh who led the NBBF delegation to the meeting told our correspondent that the meeting came at the right time.

Khaleh who is also the President of FIBA Africa Zone-III says the meeting has been able to achieve a lot thus justifying the postponement of the first phase of the league by one week.
He reassures teams in the league of full participation of the sponsor when hostilities began with ten teams campaigning for honours.
The NBBF has fixed arrival date for all participants in the Kaduna leg of the league for next Tuesday this will be followed by mandatory pre-match meeting a day after while the first jump-ball holds Thursday, July 2 at the new sports hall at Murtala Square.

Among the team teams that are expected to jostle for the league title includes First Deepwater basketball club of Lagos who acquire the right of Amazons basketball club. Others are defending champion, First Bank basketball club, Dolphins, Sunshine Angels of Akure, Delta Force of Asaba, AHIP of Kano, Nigeria Immigration of Kano, Plateau Rocks among others.

By: Olusegun Ikuesan

FIBA Africa

The 2008 – 2009 season of Liberia National Basketball League ended last week end with NPA Pythons (men) and K-Deltas (women) crown as national champions.

In the men 1st Division, NPA Pythons ended first while Mighty Barrolles the runner up. In women 1st Division, K-Deltas’s runner up is Phoenix.

For the2008 – 2009 season of Liberia National Basketball League, Liberia Basketball Federation (LBF) registered for the male category 9 teams in 1st division, 10 teams in 2nd Division, 10 teams in 3rd Division and 9 teams in Female 1st division.

(by Pedro Gomes)
The teams from Santiago Island, ABC and Seven Stars, became, on Sunday night, 21, national basketball champions in the U18 and senior division, respectively, during the national championship, held in the Sports Pavilion on the island of Sal.

In the final game to decide the champion of Cape Verde in the U18 division, ABC won the title in the last seconds of the game, beating Academica of Mindelo, Sao Vicente Island, 69-68. It was a hard fought comeback and the team from Praia was down by 22 points to the team from Mindelo, last years champions.

The tournament counted with the participation of three teams. In the first two days, Academica of Mindelo and ABC had defeated Ami Fogo, from Fogo Island.

In the senior division, Seven Stars showed their supremacy and became national champion by beating the hosts, Pantera Negra, 61-49.
The two teams reached the final as winners of their respective Poule, North and South, which was held in the island of Sal.

Final Classification Mens Senior Division:
Champions, Seven Stars (Santiago);
Runner up, Pantera (Sal);
Third place, Atletico (Sao Vicente) and Cutelinho (Fogo);
Fifth place, Fiorentina (Santo Antao), and
Sixth place, Sporting (Boa Vista)

Sande Bashaija
Lugogo

Results
Men
DMark Power 92-63 KCC Lions
Livingstone 79-75 Bushcourt
UCU JV 57-69 Kings
Women
Mak Sparks 100-31 Lady Bucks

Before the MTN-Fuba League started, DMark Power made it clear they wanted to go unbeaten. That goal is now nearing reality. The men’s topflight league defending champions outclassed lowly KCC Lions 92-63 on Saturday night at Lugogo Indoor Stadium to make it eight out of eight.

It’s one game left for the DMark Mobile-sponsored team to complete round one unbeaten yet they are comfortably seated on top of the 10-team table. Warriors are in second place with six-time champions Falcons trailing closely. With the Africa Zone 5 Club Championships looming large, Peter Mubanda’s side can’t claim to be low on confidence. A game high 25 points from reigning Most Valuable Player.
(MVP) Ben Komakech is all Power needed to inhale the battle-hardened KCC Lions, who are once again brushing shoulders with relegation.

Joseph Ikong garnered 16 points and Norman Blick contributed 13 for Power. Michael Opolot was KCC’s top scorer on the night with 23 while Moses Okwera added 15. The Power game was preceded by a boring one-sided affair between Makerere Sparks and women record champions Lady Bucks. Spurred on by Hellen Nakijjo’s 25 points and Carol Nyafono’s 23, Sparks outplayed and embarrassed the depleted Lady Bucks 100-31.

Earlier in day, Livingstone had overcome the absence of their suspended captain Abel Emwodu to defeat Second Division giants Bushcourt 79-75 in an exciting encounter.

Reigning national champions KCB Lions over the weekend pipped Posta 59-57 in a top tie played at the Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium.

This explosive tie, watched by a good crowd, ended in confusion with a contentious David Otiso drive after both giants were locked 57-57 in the waning seconds of this cracker. Before that match, both teams were the only unbeaten sides in the show.

The mailmen, who have not lost a league tie in two and half years, immediately filed a protest after game ended with captain Ben Oluoch signing the scoresheet. Posta contested that Otiso's basket was scored long after the final horn would have gone.

No buzzer suprisingly sounded to end this stormy show and Posta raced to the other end of the court missing a potential decider amid confusion before scoree keeper Charles Goro switched the alarm after the game clock failed to go off signalling the end.

Posta's tactician Ronny Owino told Fiba hours latter on phone that the result would stand." There is no need for that protest. I think we were well placed to win this game in normal time.It was harsh losing it, but that is sports." said Owino in a true sporting gesture.

Posta rode on a superb 20-12 high in the first quarter. But KCB changed the tide in the second scoring at will before the losers had made any basket to tie it 24-24, 26-26 and a basket by Samuel Mogeshi saw them take a 31-28 edge at the break.

The third quarter got off in style with Ancette Wafula swishing a long range three pointer and Ben Oluoch scoring to again tie it 37-37 after which the game swung from one end line to the other with the crowd rooting. There were more ties at 42-24 and 44-44.

Another Wafula three pointer bomb saw Posta sail away 56-44 without even scoring a field goal- all points were from the line. The losers then seemed home and dry with just over three minutes still to play.Then the tide dramatically swung Lions way.

Two three pointers from Tobias Onyango and Juma Ikapian saw Lions regain the advantage at 57-56 and Posta forward JP Nyadaro then went to the line mising one foul shot giving KCB a chance for one last gasp attempt. And they took it with both hands.

It came after Yoni Wnambiro was foul sending him to the line for two foul shots with 0:04 seconds left on the clock. But he missed both attempts. Still Lions had the last possession from mid court. And more drama was to follow.

The ball went to Ikapian who found the range too long to shoot and dished it to Otiso who was all alone on the wing. The lanky forward, hesitated as if to shoot then decided to drive the lane for a lay up that sealed Posta's fate.

The player who stole the show was Wafula. He has been away in the gulf but he still showed remarkable accuracy as he sunk team high 21 points that included four three pointers. Oluoch added 13. For Lions, it was Onyango who hit double figures with 21.

Francis "Officer" Ngunjiri, the long serving Lions said." I am very happy at the way my boys responded in this tough game.The refereeing was not very good to us but we showed we are true champions." he noted.

Former national champions Co-operative Bank of Kenya clobbered Lombiritz 71-42 in a one sided. The bankers got off to a slow start taking the first quarter 13-7 and the second 22-15. Led by Ben Mufutu, Collins Gaya, Moses Kamau, Eugene Genga and Richard Osano Co-op were too strong.

They were up 13-11 as Lomboritz rallied behind Rogers Magati, Dennis Chute and Melvin Oketch. But the last one was easy for the victors as they tallued a strong 23-9 difference to carry the day. Mufuitu nailed 15 points and Gaya 11. For the losers Magati hit 15.

United States International University (USIU) won 63-56 over University of Nairobi "Terrorists" as Chris Mulumba nailed 23 points, Rocky Achega hit 21 and Victor Bwire made 17 for the victors.. UoN had 17 from Sam Kiria with Ken Githinji making 14.

In the women's show, Eagle Wings hit Mennonites 60-32 behind 12 points from Rebecca Sarange, 11 points from national team star Caroline Achieng and 10 from Bridgit Nanzala. Mennonites, who trailed 26-22 at the break, had 11 from Sarah Anyango.

Emma Nyakweba shot 15 points including 3-three pointers, Irene Makori added 14 and Mitchelle Otinda nailed 11 as Eastern Queens stopped Kenya College of Accountancy (KCA) University. Monica Odhiambo led KCA with 14 points.

National team point guard, Samba Mjomba scored 13 points to lead USIU Flames to a hard fought 45-38 win over a dtermined Sprite Storms side who had game high 17 points from Beatrice Juma.

In the only lower division ties, Blazers nip the visiting Nakuru Club behind 13 points from Mutwiri Kiogora. Richard Randa led the losers with 17 points while Joseph Ngure tallied another 12. KCA impressive run continued with a 60-49 win over Africa Nazarene University (ANU).

The Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA) matches played at Railways Club, saw leaders Trailblazers crushed Balozi 67-47. Joshua Vuva scored 25 points while Savio Kanyanya had 12 for the losers. Vuva also hit 17 and Dennis Oyaro 17 in a convincing 70-43 win over Nairobi Aviation College (NAC).

Eric Mabwi scored 21 and Nicholas Muli had 20 as Kenya Airpors Authority (KAA) thumped Balozi 83-45. Baraka Xtreme were too smart for Madison posting a 48-28 win behind Calvin Apwoka's 13 points. FOB won 55-23 over Don Bosco Joseph Achega nailed 23 points.They lost 50-61 though to NAC.

Don Bosco had 20 points from Mike Angaine as they thumped Sattelite Mercenaries 50-28. Madison had it easy beating Upper Hill School 75-41 in a game that saw Romanus Nehondo and Edward Nalo each recorded 13 points.

FIBA

Nigeria’s premier league for women, the Zenith Bank League which was billed to take the first jump ball on June 24th has been rescheduled by one week. By the new arrangement the teams are now expected to arrive at the competition venue on the 30th of the month while the jump ball takes place on July 2nd. The new schedule was released to FIBA AFRICA by the Secretary General of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Mr. Francis Gbiri.

“This is confirming a shift in date by just one week from the original date earlier announced. We have few technical matters to tackle and we need just a little time to do that and perfect every other arrangement that follows,” Gbiri said.

Apart from the change in date other details for the championship remain unchanged. And in that regard, the first phase of the competition will take place in Kaduna which provides some of the best facilities available to the players in Nigeria as the venue was used for the National Sports Festival three month ago. From Kaduna the next stage will be in Ilorin before the third and final leg taking place at the traditional venue of National Stadium in Lagos.

It is not certain for now if the league may still go through three phases planned due to time constraints. The format and other details will be agreed upon on Monday when the NBBF team meets with their sponsors at their corporate headquarters in Lagos. The league was billed to start since the month of February but delay in setting up new boards by the National Sports Commission (NSC) forced the league start off to shift indefinitely. The next three months are loaded with international competitions for Nigerian basketball with the ladies set to play the qualifiers for the African Women’s Cup from July 20 to 28th in Lagos. But before then there will be the Under 16 boys and girls qualifiers in Cotonou and then the top of the bill – the men’s cup in Tripoli, Libya from August 5th to 15th.

By Pius Ayinor
FIBA Africa

Nigeria caused a stir at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan when they reached the Eighth-Finals before falling to Germany and Dirk Nowitzki in the last seconds.

The Nigerians are desperate to make it back to the best international event in the sport when it is staged in Turkey next year.

To meet that aim, Nigeria must win a medal at the FIBA Africa Championship when in Libya – something they did not do when Angola hosted the tournament in 2007.

The new coach of Nigeria’s men’s team is John Lucas, a former USA international who captured a bronze medal at the 1974 FIBA World Championship and then played and coached in the NBA.

Lucas is renowned for giving private lessons to players, including Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, to help them master the fundamentals in the game.

The new president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Tijjani Umar, is optimistic about his team’s chances.

He spoke to FIBA.com’s Olusegun Ikuesan.

FIBA: Congratulations on becoming president. What should Nigerians expect from this (NBBF) board in the next four years?

Tijjani Umar: Thanks. For me, the inauguration is only a formality. You know that we have being running the affairs of the game since long before the election. I am sure you know that I have been heading the task force which has had the primary assignment to prepare the senior national team for the 25th edition of the FIBA Africa Championship in Libya in August this year and other local basketball programs. What is really important to us now is not just the Cup of Nations but other programs as well. We are going to jump-start the Zenith Women Premier League by the end of this month, get involved in the U16 Boy’s and Girl’s qualifiers holding in Cotonuo, Republic of Benin and do everything possible to see that the Premier League for Men take off, so you can see that our hands are full.

FIBA: Tell us about the funding for the programs.

Tijjani Umar: It’s true that funding is extremely vital in the execution of these programs. We shall appeal to all stake-holders in the game for support, including corporate sponsors of our various programs and with the support of everybody; none of the programs will be left unattended.

FIBA: Can you talk about the decision to have American John Lucas coach men’s national team?

Tijjani Umar: It is true that Nigerian coaches, (Ayo Bakare and Sani Ahmed) qualified the country for Libya 2009, the Afrobasket. The situation on ground presently forces us to go for a foreign coach so that is why we made the appointment of John Harding Lucas-II, who we believe can deliver at this crucial moment. For me personally, I would prefer a Nigerian coach who has a greater stake than a foreigner.

FIBA: Nigeria will be training for Libya in the United States and not in Africa. Why is this?

Tijjani Umar: The bulk of the invited players live in the United States, which makes it easy for them to come together on short notice. Also, given the financial status of the board at present, we realize the difficulty in getting the players to come down to Nigeria for a camp but arrangements are in place to have the team come down to Nigeria before flying out to Tripoli, Libya for the Championship. I can assure you that this will probably be the last time we will have any of our team camps in the US, unless they want to embark on a training tour. But such camps must start from the home front.

FIBA: Nigeria did not win a medal at the last FIBA Africa Championship in Angola. What is the objective this time?

Tijjani Umar: To be honest with Nigerians, our target is to secure one of the three 2010 FIBA World Championship tickets.

FIBA: What about the appointment of a coach for D’Tigress?

Tijjani Umar: You know there are still the zonal qualifiers to play in, which we are hosting, so in the next couple of days or weeks, the coach for the senior women national team will be announced and he will definitely be a Nigerian.

FIBA

Rwanda wants a better outing at the 25th edition of FIBA Africa Nations Championship for men (Afrobasket Libya 2009) and there is no better way to go than to have early preparations.

The men’s national team of Rwanda started non-residential training last Sunday under the auspices of Vaceslav Kavedzija.
The FIBA Africa Nations Championship (Afrobasket Libya 2009) is slated for August 5-15 in Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya.

In a bid to gel the team, Kavedzija has also opted to call up Rwanda’s foreign based players much earlier than usual.
“Apart from Robert Thompson and Hamza Ruhezamihigo, all the other players should be in the country before the end of June,” the national basketball federation (Ferwaba) president Kalisa Salongo confirmed.

Rwanda, the only East African nation to ever play in the competition made a historic debut in 2007 in Angola where they finished 12th.

However, with early preparations and an improved side, Kalisa sees no reason why the team can’t break into the top eight.
“With early preparations and the players we have, we should ataleast make the quarter-finals. Anything short of that will be below par,” Kalisa stated.

Defending champions Angola have also started preparations as they chase for a record tenth title. Angola’s Portuguese coach Luís Magalhães was recently quoted on FIBA Africa website saying that with the 18 summoned players, the team has the resources to lift a 10th title.

The top three nations in Libya will represent Africa at 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Teams for Afrobasket Libya 2009; Libya (host), Angola (defending Champion), Cameroon (1st runner up), Cape Verde (2nd runner up), Tunisia & Morocco (Zone I), Mali (Zone 2), Nigeria & Côte d’Ivoire (Zone 3), Central African Republic & DR. Congo (Zone 4), Egypt & Rwanda (Zone 5), Mozambique (Zone 6), South Africa & Senegal (Wild card).

By Julius Mbaraga

The female team of Cameroon beat yesterday the female team of DR Congo 58 - 41 in second leg game of the FIBA Africa zone IV Nations Championship for women qualifiers in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Cameroon won 23 – 19 at the break. The best scorer of the game was Ndjonkou from Cameroon with 21 points while Muganza poured 10 points for Congolese side. Cameroon will represent the zone IV at the Afrobasket women 2009 to be staged in Madagascar after beating DR Congo twice.

by Sande Bashaija
Lugogo

Results
Men
Warriors 69-66 Falcons
Crane High 66-69 St. Michael
Today
Sharing v TLC
A-1 Challenge v Stormers
Amazon v Mak Cubs
Heaters v Vegetearin

There were no elections at Lugogo Indoor Stadium but Electoral Commission chairman Badru Kigundu made a surprise appearance. His presence among hundreds of basketball fanatics made the atmosphere on Friday night even more electrifying.

And action on court didn’t disappoint too. Although low scoring going by both teams’ standards, the game between six-time MTN-Fuba League champions Falcons and Warriors will go down in history as one of the best witnessed in Uganda’s arenas. 70-67 was the final score in favour of Warriors but even Falcons fans left with their heads high that their team had put up a commendable fight.
A fight that saw them win the opening two quarters 12-11 and 18-14 respectively. That was the end of their part.

Tanzanian import Ramathan Abdulahi, undoubtedly the best player on the night, orchestrated the chase as Warriors recovered to win the final two quarters 22-17 and 23-20 respectively. “We worked out for this game for quite a long time. This is a fitting reward,” Warriors assistant coach Peter Wandukwa commented.

The win though didn’t come on a silver platter. Falcons’ lack of depth notwithstanding, looked the better side only to be pegged back by an ejection of their best player Stephen Omony (16 points) with 4:23 minutes left in fourth quarter. Even with Omony gone Falcons kept up the fight for a while.

With 15 seconds on the clock, Stephen Okias put Warriors ahead 68-67 before Abdulahi put the icing on the cake.
“There are some few errors that cost us tonight. Nonetheless, it was a good game of basketball. I hope the fans enjoyed it,” Falcons patron John Ssimbwa said.

Ronnie Kasewu scored 21 points while Kenyan Martin Okwako added 10 for Warriors. Henry Malinga sunk in a game high 22 points.

The female team of Cameroon beat today the female team of DR Congo 56 – 43 in first leg game of the FIBA Africa zone IV Nations Championship for women qualifiers in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
DR Congo trailed 20 – 27 at the break and the second leg game will be played tomorrow. The winner of these qualifiers will represent the zone IV at the Afrobasket women 2009 to be staged in Madagascar.

The game took place at the new brand multipurpose arena of Yaounde that the inauguration has been presided yesterday by the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya.

by Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo
Kampala

Today at Lugogo
Men
Power v KCC Lions (6.30pm)
Bush Courts v Stone (8.30pm)
UCU JV v Kings (12.30pm)
Women
Lady Bucks v Mak Sparks (5pm)

Defending League champions DMark Power have braved so many storms to retain top spot in the NTN-Fuba National Basketball League and they can afford to stroll as the first round reaches its final stretch.

Having banked on detonating in the final quarter to cruise past Miracle Eagles, Knight Riders, Kyambogo Warriors and UCU Canons, Power will be hoping for a more comfortable eighth 8th win as they face bottom-placed KCC Lions at Lugogo Indoor Stadium this evening.

Power have all their opening seven games in the 10-team league team and will provide KCC the second last stop in terms of preparations for next month’s Fiba Zone V Africa Club Championships in Kampala.

Coach Brian Wathum has been able to tinker with the avalanche of talent that Power possess without necessarily derailing the team’s progress but today provides a chance for the fringe players like Michael Kojo to impress.
Reigning MVP Ben Komakech has started reproducing last season’s form especially at the charity line and will take the burden off skipper Norman Blick and Isaac Afidra who have carried the team while Joseph Ikong must come to the party.

In Division II, Bushcourts will seek to record their fourth victory over Livingstone. In the only women’s game of the day, former champions Lady Bucks face University side Makerere Sparks.

by Titus Munga

Arusha — The Arusha regional basketball champions this season are Arusha Kings after defeating the Spiders in the finals last weekend.

The competition was aimed at selecting regional representatives in the coming national championships due in Mwanza from 23 May this year.
The regional competitions had involved four teams: Njiro Hoppers, the Spartans, the Spiders and the Arusha Kings.

Speaking after the competitions the regional Basketball chairman Ally Jua Mwakalinga expressed his satisfaction on the choice made to represent the region in the national competitions as the Arusha Kings had the best talents.

The Kings received a trophy worth Tsh.200,000.

BY JULIUS MBARAGA

RWANDA wants a better outing at this year’s Afrobasket competition and there is no better way to go than to have early preps.

The men’s national basketball team is expected to start non-residential training this Sunday under the auspices of Vaceslav Kavedzija.

The FIBA Africa Nations Championship (Afrobasket Libya 2009) is slated for August 5-15 in Tripoli, Libya.

In a bid to gel the team, Kavedzija has also opted to call up Rwanda’s foreign based players much earlier than usual.

“Apart from Robert Thompson and Hamza Ruhezamihigo, all the other players should be in the country before the end of June,” the national basketball federation (Ferwaba) president Kalisa Salongo confirmed.

Rwanda, the only East African nation to ever play in the competition made a historic debut in 2007 in Angola where they finished 12th.

However, with early preparations and an improved side, Kalisa sees no reason why the team can’t break into the top eight.
“With early preps and the players we have, we should atleast make the quarter-finals. Anything short of that will be below par,” Kalisa stated.

Defending champions Angola have also started preps as they chase for a record tenth title. Angola’s Portuguese coach Luís Magalhães was recently quoted on FIBA Africa website saying that with the 18 summoned players, the team has the resources to lift a 10th title.

The top three nations in Libya will represent Africa at next year’s World basketball championships in Turkey.

Teams for Afrobasket Libya 2009; Libya (host), Angola (defending Champion), Cameroon (1st runner up), Cape Verde (2nd runner up), Tunisia & Morocco (Zone I), Mali (Zone 2), Nigeria & Côte d’Ivoire (Zone 3), Central African Republic & DR. Congo (Zone 4), Egypt & Rwanda (Zone 5), Mozambique (Zone 6), South Africa & Senegal (Wild card)

by Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo & James Ssekandi
Kampala

Results (Wednesday)
Falcons 83-66 Marines
Crane High 64-52 Lady Bucks
Today at Lugogo
Warriors v Falcons (8.30pm)
Crane High v St Michael (5.30pm)
Women
Nabisunsa v A-1 (7pm)

Henry Malinga, a former MTN-Fuba national Basketball League MVP with Mogas Falcons, is wary that his teammates must erase the mistakes from Wednesday night’s 83-66 victory over Nkumba Marines in order to upstage Kyambogo Warriors at Lugogo Indoor Stadium tonight. “It’s good that I managed to play my game (against Marines) but we committed so many errors that could have cost us against a more solid side,” said Malinga who had a game high 19 points including numerous slum-dunks.

Steven Omony added 18 points and Isaac Lugudde returned from illness to contribute 13 though Falcons still await Francis Tumusiime who failed to recover for Wednesday but was due to have a fitness test for today’s game. “Against Warriors, our defence will be key because we must contain their best players,” Malinga added in highlighting the threat of Ronnie Kasewu, Steve Okias, and Joshua Etalu.

Kasewu ran rings around the DMark Power defence last Friday in scoring 33 points but Warriors still lost 90-88. Malinga also took time to underline highlight preparations for the fourth edition of the Zone V Africa Club Championship which was launched yesterday at Grand Imperial Hotel.

Champions Power, Falcons and Warriors will represent Uganda in the men’s category in the 12-team event set for July 27 to August 2. UCU Lady Canons, A1 Challenge and KCC Leopards will lead the women’s charge.

Vijana City Bulls and Savio have come forward to blame organisers of the Regional Basketball Association (RBA) for delaying prizes.

Officials of both teams said the delay affected them adversely as they failed to feature in the recently ended National Basketball League (NBL).

Failure to compete in the NBL excluded them automatically from featuring in the forthcoming Union Basketball League.

Michael Mwita, who plays for Savio, said his club depended on the RBA cash prizes to travel to Mwanza for the NBL.
"Our budget was limited, so we relied on the cash prizes to cater for transport and our upkeep in Mwanza," Mwita said.

Vijana's head coach Bahati Mgunda also said the delay ruined their ambition to clinch the national league title.
He said they needed Sh3 million only to travel to the lake region, but they failed to raise it.
Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) handed over the cash prizes on Monday, which is exactly three months since the league reached its climax.

The winners JKT received Sh3.5 million while runners up Vijana City Bulls got Sh2 million and Savio, who finished third earned Sh1 million.
JKT Ladies received Sh2 million as champions, the runners DB Lady Lioness walked away with Sh1 million and Sh500,000 went to Jeshi Stars.

by Mohamed Hafez)
After a tough season wins and losses happiness and sadness , each club is doing his best to improve and have more chances in the next league , also the Egyptian basketball federation entered a new system in th registered players for each club by dropping the list from 16 to only 15 player

Back to the players transfer the most team effected negatively was Zamalek as more than 5 players leaved :

Haytham El saeed to Shorta Police
Tarek El Saeed to Gazeera
Wael Badr to Gazeera
Ibrahim El Adwy to Smouha
Hoseny Samir to Smouha
Also Smouha center Brew went to Gazeera ,
Mohmaed Reeoo sporting play maker went to Army production

As part of its preparation towards the 25th Africa Nations Championship for Men scheduled for Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya from August 5 to August 15, the Nigeria Basketball Federation has invited ten home based players to a national mini-camp in Kaduna to give them an opportunity to compete for a place on the national team.

The camp will hold from June 18 to June 21 under the supervision of the national team assistant coach, Sani Ahmed.

The players comprise five guards, three forwards and two centres. They include Oseer Ikyator (Ebun Comets), Mike Oheiro (Islanders), Abdulrahman Mohammed (Nigeria Customs), Usman Abubakar (Niger Potters), Dike Azuoma (Islanders) and Ibrahim Yusuf (Kano Pillars).

Others are Stanley Gumut (Plateau Peaks), Edem Ekpenyong (Union Bank), Namban Nimrod (Plateau Peaks) and Auwal Zanna (Kano Pillars).

D'Tigers' assistant coach Sani Ahmed told FIBA AFRICA that the hitch that caused the delay in the commencement of the camping has been overcome.

"We had some little technical issue with the training venue but that has been sorted out and with that we'll hold the programme this weekend. It's a short one and we hope to be well on time before the main camping begins in Houston," Ahmed said.

The main camp will open in USA on June 26th. The camping will form the major part of the first phase of camping. By the details of the national camping schedule, the June camping will take a break on July 1 to enable the players in camp take part in the NBA Summer League. The first part of the camping will feature 24 players based abroad.
"The Houston first stage is for the 24 players based abroad that have been screened and selected. Everybody is to get a chance to cross to the next level," the associate head coach Masai Ujiri said.

When the players return on July 20 only 14 of the original 24-man list will return as the team will be trimmed down. The 14 selected players from the Houston camp are expected to form the backbone of the final team of D'Tigers to Tripoli.

In a related development, Nike, the sports equipment providers for the national teams, has shipped all the gear for use by the national team camp which opens in Houston, Texas, USA on June 25. Another shipment is expected in Nigeria soon.

Haitham El saied Zamalk former player joined Shorta before heading to Turkey to join the national team camp. Also Tarek el Saied signed for Gezira to follow his former team mate Wael Badr who singed for Gezira early this month. However, Zamalek is loosing all his former players who said 'They neglected us after the last elections'. However, Sabry Serag the elected board member in Zamalk said 'the players asked for very high numbers while negotiations and they didnt wait for answrs , they just ran away from the club'. Dramaticly, Zamalek basketball seems falling down after the great escape made by 7 players of the last roster who lost the league final game last season.

africabasket.com

By Charles Mutebi

MTN-FUBA League
Today, Lugogo
Men Div 1:
Warriors v Falcons (8.30pm)
Men Div 2:
Crane High v St. Michael (5.30pm)
Women
Nabisunsa v A1 (7pm)

FALCONS star player and assistant coach Steven Omony is relishing the prospect of renewing hostilities against Abdullahi Ramadan when his team battles the Kyambogo Warriors in the men’s basketball first division tomorrow.

The rivals meet at Lugogo in a clash that will see Omony potentially guard the Warriors new signing and a player he faced countless times during his nine-year stint in the Seychelles.

Omony turned out for the PSL Hawks whose main rivals were Ramadan’s Premium Cobra. During that time the two players won three championships apiece, with both Omony and Ramadan claiming the MVP award at least once.

Now they face off in Omony’s homeland but the 29 year-old does not believe he has a head-start.
“I don’t think have the advantage although I have played here before,” Omony said.

Omony added that he is looking forward to taking on a player he described as “complete”. He said: “Facing him is good because it will challenge me to raise my game.”

The Warriors signed Ramadan along with Kenya national team point guard Martin Okwako last Friday for undisclosed fees. The Kenyan featured in their 90-88 loss to Dmark Power later that day.

LAGOS (Premier League) - Dodan Warriors of Lagos have announced that they have completed the process leading to a big return in the Nigerian basketball circle. The detail for the big bounce back into the league scene was given by the coordinator of the team Col. Sam Ahmedu (rtd) in a chat with FIBA Africa in Lagos during the week.

“After a seeming lull in our activities in the past 2 years, the Dodan Warriors Basketball programme is being re-branded to meet up with the challenges of the times. To this end a sweeping reorganization will take place within the management to make the Warriors brand more vibrant. However, our core value which remains the development of our youths, through basketball and education will remain the same,” Ahmedu said.

At the close of the last season, the Dodan Warriors management sold the franchise for their female team the Dodan Amazon which prompted many followers of the game in Nigeria to suggest that the Warriors basketball programme was gradually winding up. But Ahmedu has said that the decision to let go the ladies was only strategic to the advancement of their programme without much distractions.

“In the light of the likely take off of the Premier League as a result of the sponsorship deal with sealed with MultiChoice by the last board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), the Warriors brand seeks to reposition itself in order to be more competitive and result oriented.”

The Dodan Warriors have been key players in the Nigerian basketball scene since inception in 1994 when they joined the system in third division and played through the ranks to enter the top flight Premier League in 1997.
In 2006 the Warriors became the first Nigerian club to host the FIBA Africa Champions League play off and finished with a bronze medal in the competition held at the National Stadium, Lagos.

The Dodan Warriors Programme has also produced over 50 kids in colleges in the United States with many others now playing professionally in different leagues across the world. The Lagos based club is hopeful that their fan base will continue to grow.

By Pius Ayinor, FIBA Africa

By Majuto Omary

JKT and ABC have confirmed to feature in the zone five basketball tournaments scheduled to take place in Kampala-Uganda from July 27 to August 2.

Lawrence Cheyo, Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) secretary general, said teams from Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and the host would be hunting top prizes.
Cheyo said ABC and JKT had already started preparations for the forthcoming championship and players are determined to compete daringly.

According to him, the federation does not expect last minute withdraw like what happened in the previous events.
"It's good to have two teams in such high profile tournaments�we expect them to fly high the national flag and hopefully they won't pull out,"he said.

Meanwhile, the TBF is planning to organise a basketball coaching course whose instructor will come from Kenya.
The TBF official said the one-week course would start from June 23 to 29, adding that the FIBA Africa recognises it.
He urged all basketball coaches to register for the course that would give them opportunities to officiate in various continental tournaments.
He also disclosed that the eagerly awaited Union Basketball League would take place in Dar es Salaam.

Cheyo named ABC, JKT, Mzinga and Dodoma spurs would represent Tanzania mailand in men's category while Jeshi Stars, JKT queens and Cargo Ladies will be all out to challenge their Zanzibar women counterparts.

Reigning national champions KCB Lions and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) women's team maintain their winning ways inn the premier league following weekend matches played at Nyayo national Stadium gymnasium.

Lions shut out Strathmore University Blades 66-56 in a tough premier league show while the upbeat KPA girls were too strong for Yana as they whipped them 75-31.

KCB, who have now gone four games without a loss struggled for grip before taking the first quarter with a lowly 12-9 margin. The students took the second with a strong display surprising the bankers 21-15 but they could not maintain that fight and stuttered in the third 16-12.

Strathmore, who have won only one of their three fixtures pipping Lomboritz 61-60 in the opening day, went down 14-13 in the fourth but with a great fight. Lions had 22 points from sure handed Tobias Ocholla and 10 from David Otiso while Blades had 14 from Phil Amenyi.

KPA men whipped Co-operative Bank of Kenya 68-44 The porters, who have now won three of their four league ties, subjected the league runners up to a humiliating show battering them in all all quarters to win with consumate ease this match that was expected to be a real cracker for the fans.

KPA rampaged to an emphatic 22-9 lead in the first quarter and were too smart for the bankers in the second quarter which they took with a 14-2 margin. Co-op continued to struggled in the third quarter showing no purpose with the winners moving ahead 20-15.

Co-op took the last quarter with a 17-12 difference but then the fight was already won. Dan Okwirri, the national team guard led the KPA rout with 18 points while Moses Kamau nailed 12 for Co-op who lost lost 60-59 to champions KCB Lions in their last game.

Lomboritz who had remained winless in three matches played a game of their lives taking on and thumping United States International Univesity (USIU) Tigers 68-48 with a virtuoso dislay.The winners bolted to a 19-12 first quarter charge before both sides tied 12-12 in the second.

The third was a washout as Lomboritz displayed grit and determination with a strong 19-8 display. They then shut out USIU, who have now lost two in a row with a 23-17 margin. Rogers Magati was the main star with 23 points. With Abel Nson firing blanks, the losers were pepped by Chris Mulumba who shot 14.

It was a double victory for the Mombasa based side as the women who are also the reigning champions torched Yana 75-31 with another virtuoso show. KPA had a poor start taking a close 13-9 lead in the first quarter erupted in the second with a 20-2 margin.

After the intermission, they sailed away comfortably in the third as they build that big lead to 24-14. The last one was also easy with the porters cruising to a strong 18-6 cushion. International forward Yvonne Akinyi led the way with 18 points while Yana had seven from Sylvia Koech.

Sprite Storms blanked Strathmore University Swords 46-31 in the women's show while Monica Odhiambo scored 22 points to lift impressive debutants Kenya Colleage of Accountancy (KCA) Univesity to a 55-26 thumping of Mennonites in the other match.

In the lower division matches, Blazers had 13 points from Ken Keya as they recovered to punish Africa Nazarene University (ANU) 62-57. The losers only pride is that they provided the match's top scorer in Edgar Kisiali who managed to post game high 26 points.

Action in the Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA) provincial league matches played st Railways Club saw Nairobi Aviation College (NAC) humbled Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) 55-39 behind Sam Ocholla's 12 points. KAA provided the match's top scorers in Kelvin Otieno who hit 15 ponts.

Old Pirates clobbered Balozi 50-27 behind 20 points from Eughene Mutekhele while Dennis Omboni scored 14 for the losers. Friends of Basketball (FOB) hit Madison 47-44 with Joseph Achega providing 20 points.. Romanus Nehondo made 14 points.

Emyba also went past Upper Hill School 55-40 in an enterttaining game. Roy Javan connected for 14 points. Steve Migoze led the students with game high 22 points. Massud Issa lifted Kenya Polytechnic University to an easy 55-21 win over Satelite Mercenaries with 16 points.

In the only women's match of the day, live wire Florence Mbithe and Penina Nthenya combination was evident as they provided 17 and 13 points respectively in a 38-25 win over World Hope.

Dominic Osale scored 18 points to guide Emyba to a 49-35 win over Madison in the Nairobi Basketball Association matches played at Railways Club.

Kenya Polytechnic University whitewashed Balozi 61-44 as Collins Ocholla hit 13 points. Old Pirates had 22 ponts fro Aaron Abuya in a 47-39 win over Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).

Baraka Xtreme continued their good run with a 62-35 drubbing of Satelite Mercenaries as Tomothy Otieno connected for 22 points. Upper Hill School succumbed 38-58 against Friend of Basketball. Joseph Achega was good for 25 points while Stephen Migoze had 18 for the students.

FIBA

Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo
Kampala

Today/ YMCA
Marines v Falcons (8.30pm)
Women
Crane High v Lady Bucks (7pm)
Seroma v KIU (5.30pm)

After archrivals and champions DMark Power passed the test of playing so many games over a short period of time, Mogas Falcons will to try to copy and paste the resilience of the former when they play two big games at YMCA Court, Wandegeya in 48-hour spell.

Nkumba Marines will be first hurdle that Falcons will try to overcome today before regrouping for a cracker against Kyambogo Warriors on Friday in the MTN-Fuba National Basketball League. “The biggest preparation for such crucial games is the mental because it’s easy to wither the physical demand but the mind must do the same,” Steven Omony, re-signed for Shs72m from Seychelles’ PSL Hawks, told Daily Monitor.

Inscrutable Isaac and Francis Tumusiime are expected to return from illness having missed the last two games. Falcons, six-time champions, seem to have stepped up this season from their traditional cagey play to a much faster game in order to stay competitive and also beat the 24-second clock and the strategy is paying dividends. “The change in strategy depends on who we play. We can be slow and speed up when need be,” Omony explained.

Coach Timothy Odeke’s Marines, champions in 2005 & 2006, have blown cold most of the season but facing Falcons could motivate his side. Philip Wakimwero and Julius Lutwana must return to their early season for Marines to stand a chance.

ABUJA (Afrobasket) - The home-based players invited to the Nigerian camp for the Libya 2009 African Nations Cup for Men will now go into camping this weekend having failed to enter into camp as originally scheduled last weekend. The assistant coach of the Nigerian team to the competition Sani Ahmed told FIBA AFRICA that the hitch that caused the delay has been over come.

“We had some little technical issue with the training venue but that has been sorted out and with that we’ll hold the programme this weekend. It’s a short one and we hope to be well on time before the main camping begins in Houston,” Ahmed said.

By the arrangement, 15 players are billed to camp in Kaduna for about three days. The screening will cut down the players to less than 10 in number and those selected are scheduled to join the main camp in Houston, USA ahead of the African jump ball in Tripoli, Libya by August.

The main camp will open in USA on June 26th. The camping will form the major part of the first phase of camping.
By the details of the national camping schedule, the June camping will take a break on July 1st to enable the players in camp take part in the NBA Summer League. The first part of the camping will feature 24 players based abroad.

“The Houston first stage is for the 24 players based abroad that have been screened and selected. Everybody is to get a chance to cross to the next level,” the associate head coach Masai Ujiri said.

When the players return on July 20th only 14 of the original 24-man list will return as the team will be trimmed down. The 14 selected players from the Houston camp are expected to form the backbone of the final team of The Tigers to Tripoli and Benghazi – the Libyan cities where the African competition will hold from August 5 to 15.
American John Lucas has been named the new head coach of The Tigers. The best of the Nigerian camp will compete with the foreign based players when the camps merge, we were told. Nigeria and 15 other countries will battle for the African cup and the three tickets to the FIBA World Championship holding in Turkey next year.

By Pius Ayinor, FIBA Africa

News from Ghana at :

http://capecoasthoops.net/

http://capecoasthoops.blogspot.com/

The “iStand Above” campaign is a nonprofit organization that believes in providing opportunities and knowledge to determined young individuals striving to climb the ladder of success.

As part of its objectives a donation was made to the Hoops Basketball CLub after its match against Ghana Fire Service which Hoops won 90-57 retaining its status at the top of the league table.

Tesa Asloso and Halim Musah did the donation on behalf of their organization. Items donated were Interactive Drills Workout Books and Videos CD's by created by Eddie Lucas, which will go a long way in the developments of the club players and those in the extramural basketball program including children in the Hoops Care International program as well.

We hope and pray other esteem entities out there can emit such kind gesture in helping to improve the game we so love here in Ghana.

Cape Coast Hoops played NBA type game against Ghana Fire Service showing that they are the most improve team this season. From the beginning of the game saw the team taking control. Point Guard, Henry Mensah took full control of his team and was the general on the floor making sure that his team mates were all in their right position at every set play. The crowd at the Lebanon House was very impress with the beautiful execution of each plays. Many went home with the game vivid in their mind and will not forget for a long time to come. Some commented that the team should have not lost their match with CEPS if they had played the way they did today. But as is every sport, there are good days and bad days and today just seem to be the best day for Hoops in the GAABL. The first quarter ended 17-12. By half time Hoops led 46-39. Third quarter saw the lead stretch to 72-46. There was no hope for Fire as Hoops took the day winning 90-57. Hoops player of the day was C. Mammie scoring 24pts and 10 rebounds 3 blocks.

This weekend was full of action in the Hoops camp which saw its three teams traveling to Accra for matches. The female and junior teams were set to square off against the boys and girls of Tudu Magic. The first match saw Jr. Hoops squaring up with Magic in what was expected to be a game full of fireworks. It all started well for them and by half time Jr. Hoops lead a commanding 27-12. The second half for some reason or another saw the boys playing poorlyJumpball: Jr. Hoops vs Magic resulting in Magic catching up and taking the lead. Both teams had 38pts each when Magic made the final shot with less than ten seconds on the clock. Final score, Magic 40-38 Jr. Hoops. The girls seeing the boys going down could not accept to be beaten and in the next match they outclass their opponents winning a convincing score of 24-31. This win is their first in playing outside of Cape Coast. Many who watch their plays recommended that they play in the female league which starts next month. The Queens were superior in rebounds in the paint. The Hoops Queens which had three girls standing at 6'1" controlled the boards and Magic received a lot of blocks from the Queens forwards. We wish them good luck in their campaign to rule the female section as their male counterparts are doing presently.

As expected by many basketball fans who watch matches at the Lebanon House, the matchup between Hoops and Braves of CEPS was worth watching as both teams currently have the best crop of players in Ghana basketball. CEPS who are currently the defending champion where also anxious for the matchup to test the capability of their team who will be taken part in the African Club Championship in the coming months. The game which had a lot of fireworks from the beginning to the end had the crowd going wild with excitement. It was a close one all through. CEPS lead at the first quarter 14-20. This has been their lowest score in the beginning quarter for as long as anyone can remember. In the second quarter Hoops outscore them 15-14 with the half ending 29-34. Both sides came back from the break playing excellent basketball each scoring 26pts apiece with the third quarter ending 55-61. The fourth quarter decided the game with CEPS outscoring Hoops 24-36 bring the final result to 79-97. At the end of the match the CEPS coach was astonished as how tough the game was because Hoops played them man to man defense all through. He also added that their win was attributed to the turnovers from the Hoops guard in the final quarter. This was very true as the point guard somehow lost concentration in the final minutes turning the ball over a lot. Hoops player of the day was S. Oladipo who scored 27pts 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

(by Tim Ndjiki)
Just as we publish this article, the national championship is stopped for reasons of death of the President of the Republic Gabonese ; El Hadj Omar BONGO ONDIMBA.
We are going to propose you progressively of opinions of actors of this very committed championship, before the resumption of activities from here some days. As waiting for us publishes you results of meetings that were played before the truce
Results of the elite National Championship to the exit of the tenth and eleventh day.
AO BB x ATOMICK 65 / 74 ;
SOMO B x TOUNGUI BB 20 / 00 ;
CAS 1987 x OLYMPIQUE MANDJI 83 / 87 ;
STADE MANDJI x TOUNGUI BB 72 / 77 ;
IZO BB x OLYMPIQUE 69 49 ;
AO BB x STADE MANDJI 82 / 85.

by Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo
Kampala

Weekend results (Men)
Ndejje 89-77 UCU Canons
MBC Rocks 88-95 Stone
MUK Heaters 56-55 St Michael
Crane High 83-85 Vegetarian
Rhino 99-90 Berkley
Gulu 105-47 Bush Court
Sky Jammers 67-76 UCU JV
TLC 56-71 Diamonds
Gulu (walkover) Crane High

Women:
Nabisunsa 59-99 L. Canons
KCC Leopards 139-31 Mak Cubs
KIU 97-56 Stormers

Newly promoted Ndejje University Angels coach Walker Obedi continued to keep his promise of challenging the status quo in the MTN-Fuba National Basketball by defeating regular play-off campaigners UCU Canons 89-77 at Lugogo Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

Ndejje’s fourth win in seven games so far was set up by a sparkling all-round team performance as four players led by Andrew Ikungura (18 points) reached double figures. “My team is getting used to playing at this level. We have only lost to the big three – DMark Power, Mogas Falcons and Kyambogo Warriors – which will change in the second round,” Obedi told Daily Monitor.

UCU struggled throughout despite Robert Ogweno scoring a game high 19 points and Steven Mwesigye adding 14. There was also victory for champions UCU Lady Canons.

By Suleiman Jongo

Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) will award winners of the recently ended Regional Basketball Association (RBA) Kili League today.

The winners will receive the prizes at a brief ceremony that will take place at a hotel in Dar es Salaam.

The BD issued a press statement apologising for the delay to handover the cash prizes to the winners. It said they were waiting for sponsors to hand over the cash prizes.

The Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) sponsored last season's tournament that reached its climax in March.

"The sponsors have already given us the cash we needed. Therefore we will hand it over to the respective winners," said BD public relations officer Michael Maluwe.

He said the association had already given out transport allowances to all participating teams.

The prizes are being given after months of complaints from the teams and individual players who won in various categories.

Apart from the cash prizes, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner William Lukuvi, the chief guest, will present the champions with the trophy.

The winning teams include: the RBA champions (men) JKT, who will receive Sh3.5 million. Vijana (City Bulls) will walk away with Sh2 million and third placed Savio will get Sh1 million.

JKT ladies will also pocket Sh2 million as champions, Lady Lions Sh1 million while Jeshi Stars, who finished third, will get Sh500,000.

Other awards will go to the Most Valuable Player (MVP), Mohamed Yusuph of Savio, and best finalist Juma Kisoky of JKT.

In the women discipline, Asha Iddy of Cargo Stars emerged the MVP while the best finalist was Doritha Mbunda of JKT Stars.

Peter Samson of JKT Stars (women) and Tubet Matiku of JKT (men) will also receive cash prizes after emerging best coaches in the league.