Basketball in Africa

Basketball Association of Malawi (Basmal) has failed to send men and women's national teams to Mozambique for the on-going AfroBasketball Zonal Championship.

The tournament started last Sunday and it will end on Saturday in Maputo with over six participating countries.

The zonal championship is a qualifying tournament to the main AfroBasketball Championship that will be staged at the end of the year.

Basmal vice president Ben Mlasaanthu said it was difficult to plan for the event because they were not invited.

"When we heard about the championship we thought that it was just rumours. However, we have discovered that the tournament was for real but to our surprise we didn't get an official invitation," he said.

Mlasaanthu said Malawi had missed a chance to gain international exposure.

"Recent records indicate that Malawi is developing as evidenced by the Under-20 team that won two games during the Zone VI Youth Games in Zambia last year. We need such competitions to develop the sport," he said.

Former Central Zone Basketball League (Cezobal) vice chairman Barlett Mafuleka asked Basmal to be pro-active to make headway at international level.

"They need to be proactive and relate with foreign associations quite often so that they should not miss out on such tournaments which provide an opportunity for international exposure," he said.