Basketball in Africa

Playoff/semis
Tomorrow (Game One)
Power v Falcons (6pm)
Women
UCU v KIU (4pm)
Sunday
UCU v Warriors
Women: A-1 v KCC

Ugandan basketball fans will have to wait a little longer than anticipated to catch a glimpse of their stars play together as a team following the postponement of the Regional Zone V Nations Cup qualifiers.

According to the federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) calendar, the tournament was earlier scheduled for December at the refurbished Lugogo Indoor Stadium before being moved to February 1-6, 2011.

During a recent media briefing, Fuba president Ambrose Tashobya, without giving any specifics for the adjournment, set out a plan to ensure that the national team is ready when the tourney starts.
“Our plan now is to find sponsorship for both the men’s and women’s team. Committees have been set up for selection, organisation, publicity and anything we might need to be ready,” Tashobya said.

Player selection

Selections for any players in the two 12-man teams will be done upon completion of the MTN-Fuba League play-offs which start on Friday. “During selection, coaches will not only look at how good one can bounce the ball or shoot. Our aim is to have a complete player, both on and off the court. We don’t want to select a player then find him/her fighting,” the Fuba boss warned.

Former national star Robert Ndamagye, currently in the United States of America was appointed to head a coaching panel comprising of six trainers. Each of the teams will work with three of them.

For now attention is firmly fixed on the play-off semifinal series which tip-off tomorrow at Lugogo with UCU Lady Canons facing KIU Rangers whereas DMark Power clash with Mountain Dew Falcons in the late game.