Basketball in Africa

THE national Under-18 basketball team’s preparations for the upcoming Afro-basket U-18 Kagame Cup will be boosted by four players.

According to the local basketball federation President Eric Kalisa Ssalongo, the four players are based in Canada. The tournament is slated for October 8 -17 in Kigali.

The team which recently returned from a two-week training camp in San Diego and Los Angeles, has been impressive in the league where they won three games in a row against KIE,UGB and Espoir.

Ssalongo told Times Sport that the Quartet includes-Kevin Mirindi, Alex Rufagari, Gilda Mulenda and Jayde Dawson and are expected in the country on September 30.

“The team has been lacking in the area of attackers so that is where these players will boost us,” Ssalongo said.

The U-18 team is currently seventh in the league and they face league leaders KBC in their final game of regular season on Saturday. KBC hold a one-point cushion over defending APR with one game remaining.

The nine-day Afro-basket U-18 tournament will bring together nine teams, including Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mali, Angola, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, hosts Rwanda and the defending champions, Egypt.