02 October 2012
Zimbabwe: Teams Cancel Basketball Tourney
LOCAL basketball teams that were scheduled to take part in the Zone Six Club Championships in Mozambique were left disappointed after they failed to secure sponsorship for the trip. The championships are already underway and will end on October 6 in Maputo with countries such as South Africa, Lesotho, Angola and Mozambique participating.
Zimbabwe were hoping to send four clubs: Cameo and Mercenaries in the men's section while JBC and Varsity Leopards were set to compete in the women's category.
However, the teams failed to travel to Mozambique due to lack of funds.
Basketball Union of Zimbabwe president and coach for JBC, Addison Chiware, said the teams could not raise enough money for the trip.
"There are no teams that managed to go. I think the liquidity challenge in our country affected us.
"Our advice to them (clubs) was to secure the money for next year's club championships," said Chiware.
Chiware said there was nothing much they can do to help the clubs, as they have to source their own funds.
"Club situation is different but we are trying to do something, we have got an entity that have agreed to sponsor the winners men and women for next year," said Chiware. The Buz president also urged the clubs to come up with long-term strategies that would help them to sustain their teams.
"Clubs that are interested should start rolling out a plan now.
"They can have fundraising programmes and in the event that they fail to qualify they can always use the money for other events," said Chiware.
Cameo public relations officer Brian Muyengwa said they could not raise the required US$15 000 in time for the trip. "Unfortunately we could not raise the required amount and we had no option but to abort the trip.
"This will have a negative impact because as far as we are concerned our basketball is not getting anywhere if we keep playing locally. When we were preparing for the Zone Six we were preparing to face the best of the best from the region but due to financial constraints we could not go.
"If we could get more corporate partners to complement our efforts we would be very grateful," said Muyengwa. The winners at the championships progress to the African championships.
Zimbabwe were hoping to send four clubs: Cameo and Mercenaries in the men's section while JBC and Varsity Leopards were set to compete in the women's category.
However, the teams failed to travel to Mozambique due to lack of funds.
Basketball Union of Zimbabwe president and coach for JBC, Addison Chiware, said the teams could not raise enough money for the trip.
"There are no teams that managed to go. I think the liquidity challenge in our country affected us.
"Our advice to them (clubs) was to secure the money for next year's club championships," said Chiware.
Chiware said there was nothing much they can do to help the clubs, as they have to source their own funds.
"Club situation is different but we are trying to do something, we have got an entity that have agreed to sponsor the winners men and women for next year," said Chiware. The Buz president also urged the clubs to come up with long-term strategies that would help them to sustain their teams.
"Clubs that are interested should start rolling out a plan now.
"They can have fundraising programmes and in the event that they fail to qualify they can always use the money for other events," said Chiware.
Cameo public relations officer Brian Muyengwa said they could not raise the required US$15 000 in time for the trip. "Unfortunately we could not raise the required amount and we had no option but to abort the trip.
"This will have a negative impact because as far as we are concerned our basketball is not getting anywhere if we keep playing locally. When we were preparing for the Zone Six we were preparing to face the best of the best from the region but due to financial constraints we could not go.
"If we could get more corporate partners to complement our efforts we would be very grateful," said Muyengwa. The winners at the championships progress to the African championships.
# posted by afrbk : 15:36
