13 December 2013
ZAMBIA : Victorious Shells Win Praise
COACH Martin Muchena has hailed Shells for winning the 2013 Zambia Basketball Association (ZBA) women south league.
Muchena said he was happy that the team remained focussed to retain the title even after a disappointing showing in the FIBA Zone Six basketball championships that Zambia hosted last month.
He said in an interview that he was now expecting Shells to head into the weekend Sprite national basketball championships full of confidence having gained enough experience during the Zone Six Games.
"The team is ready for the championships because I believe they have learnt a lot since that poor performance during the Zone Six Championships. They reacted well towards winning the league, they never lost focused and I hope they will take that same mentality into the weekend championships," he said.
Shells finished top with 33 points ahead of UNZA Honeys, who had played two games less but the former had unassailable points to be overtaken at the top of the table.
And ZBA national technical coordinator Lovemore 'Porterfield' Sikaale in an interview said women basketball has significantly improved in Zambia.
Sikaale said ZBA has witnessed a comeback of women basketball after it's dwindle in the past years and was confident that success would soon start following the various teams especially when competing at international level.
"There was a time when women basketball became inactive when we had just about four teams competing in the league. But the ZBA has seen an increase to seven teams participating in the league which is a good sign of better things to come for the sport," he said.
Sikaale also said the coming of new teams like Spartress in the league is an indication that women basketball is heading in the right direction in terms of participation.
He said the just ended 2013 FIBA Zone Six Championships played a big motivating role and ZBA has seen the eagerness and desire in female players to get physical in sharpening their playing skills unlike in the past.
Shells topped the league that also had Honeys, Green Buffaloes, LCC Lootresses, Napsa Breeze, Hot Spurs and Spartress.
Muchena said he was happy that the team remained focussed to retain the title even after a disappointing showing in the FIBA Zone Six basketball championships that Zambia hosted last month.
He said in an interview that he was now expecting Shells to head into the weekend Sprite national basketball championships full of confidence having gained enough experience during the Zone Six Games.
"The team is ready for the championships because I believe they have learnt a lot since that poor performance during the Zone Six Championships. They reacted well towards winning the league, they never lost focused and I hope they will take that same mentality into the weekend championships," he said.
Shells finished top with 33 points ahead of UNZA Honeys, who had played two games less but the former had unassailable points to be overtaken at the top of the table.
And ZBA national technical coordinator Lovemore 'Porterfield' Sikaale in an interview said women basketball has significantly improved in Zambia.
Sikaale said ZBA has witnessed a comeback of women basketball after it's dwindle in the past years and was confident that success would soon start following the various teams especially when competing at international level.
"There was a time when women basketball became inactive when we had just about four teams competing in the league. But the ZBA has seen an increase to seven teams participating in the league which is a good sign of better things to come for the sport," he said.
Sikaale also said the coming of new teams like Spartress in the league is an indication that women basketball is heading in the right direction in terms of participation.
He said the just ended 2013 FIBA Zone Six Championships played a big motivating role and ZBA has seen the eagerness and desire in female players to get physical in sharpening their playing skills unlike in the past.
Shells topped the league that also had Honeys, Green Buffaloes, LCC Lootresses, Napsa Breeze, Hot Spurs and Spartress.
# posted by afrbk : 16:40
