Basketball in Africa

By Brown Msyani

Frank Mwamwezi and Himid Choka guided JKT to the Grace Daudi Memorial Basketball title after beating archrivals ABC 26-12 in the epic final at Mgulani courts, Dar es Salaam.

Mwamwezi slammed home nine points while Choka pumped eight more, romping the team to a convincing win. The best scorer for ABC was Gilbert Batungi who posted five points
Before the final, JKT defeated Mgulani B 16-15 in closely fought semis at the same venue while ABC had an easy 16-7 victory.

The winners JKT began the tournament with 13-7 victory over Chui. Francis Mlewa who pumped in nine points was the match's top scorer. Kulwa Mbozu scored three for Chui.

PTW sealed a slim 18-17 victory over Chui in one of the exciting basketball matches. Chui who were leading 9-7 at the first half squandered several scoring opportunities.

Gwakisa Mwasakyeni was the match�s top scorer with nine points followed by his team mate Kulwa Mbozu who penned eight points.

Abbass Hussein and Shaaban Mhunzi steered ABC to 25-6 win over Mgulani in a one-sided match. Both players scored six points each.

In netball Jeshi Stars humiliated Filbert Bayi School 11-7 before Taifa Queens beating CMTU 10-4 in the second match.
Jeshi Stars organised the event to pay homage to Grace Daudi, Jeshi Stars, and national team player who died last year after a short illness. Daudi was the best East African defender in both basketball and netball.

"More than 10 teams took part in the tournament and plans are underway to make the memorial tournament an annual event," said Jeshi Stars coach Leonard Kwale.