Basketball in Africa

Lubango — The chairperson of management committee of Basketball National Associations, Raul Duarte, has considered important the clubs to perform with more seriousness the training process of the players aimed to avoid absences in the competitions.
Speaking to Angop on Tuesday about the weak participation of teams in national male and female junior competitions, which is being hosted in Lubango city since Saturday, highlighted that it is important that the management of the teams, are more serious in this process, in order to avoid changes in the players' date of birth at the time of competitions.
"It is not good what is happening in the national competition. There is absolute absence of clubs and this fact reduces the competitiveness of the teams that have the mission of continuing in training the players for future national team", said the basketball coach.
Raul Duarte stated that the Angolan Basketball Association (FAB) has taken important decisions, while in the last editions some clubs had players with ages over the limit established by the rule for this category and many of them were still playing in junior and cadets championship.
To him, 1º de Agosto and Petro de Luanda male teams are the favorites.
The 28th edition of male Championship consists of five teams (1º de Agosto, Petro de Luanda, Sporting do Bié, Desportivo da Huíla and Casa Pessoal do Porto do Lobito) and the 27th in female consists of 1º de Agosto, Casa Pessoal do Porto do Lobito, Benfica do Lubango, Petro de Luanda, Interclube, Sporting de Benguela and Sporting do Bié.

The General Manager, DStv/SuperSport, West Africa, Felix Awogu, yesterday urged clubs participating in the 2013/ 2014 DSTV/Men's Basketball League to take advantage of the satellite broadcast to market their clubs.
Awogu told NAN in Lagos that the 16 clubs participating in the league should use the platform to source for funds.
DStv/SuperSport, the sponsors of Nigeria's Men Elite Basketball League, upwardly reviewed a four-year contract with the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) from N150 million to N218 million from 2013 to 2016.
The league features 16 clubs - eight clubs from each of the Savannah and Atlantic conferences. "The matches are broadcast on our cable channel, and we have millions of viewers throughout Africa. "The clubs have the right to market themselves, most especially by their jerseys bearing the names of their sponsors.
"They can also take advantage of their home games, collect gate fees and create avenues that will bring more fans to come and watch their games. "They should be business-oriented and should not expect we at DStv to do everything for them," Awogu said.
According to him, in the previous season, Dodan Warriors of Lagos brought more values to themselves with jersey sponsorship.
"Dodan Warriors, in the last season had sponsors of its jersey. We also heard they had some foreign connections that were interested in promoting them. "Club owners should be busy doing business with their franchise because they also play a key role in developing the league and investing in young talents," he said. (NAN)

The Executive Committee of The Gambia Basketball Association (GBA) is committed to ensuring that the sport will be developed in the country and in extension target a larger player base.
These remarks were made by the public relations officer (PRO) of the Association, Sandeji Njie, who was speaking to Observer Sports in an exclusive interview at the end of the 3-on-3 basketball competition at the Independence Stadium on Sunday.
Speaking further, Njie thanked their partners like the US Embassy for making sure that the tournament was a success. He however pointed out that the sport has been dormant for nearly a decade but reiterated their commitment to ensuring that basketball regains its past glory days.
PRO Njie also disclosed that they have seen some young talents they would like to nurture to become professionals in future, but he was quick to point out that they have a very daunting task as an association before they can achieve their dreams. He also pointed out that the 3-on-3 tournament will be used as a benchmark in their efforts to develop the sport.
The basketball PRO further opined that seeing several fans and members of the diplomatic and consular corps coming together to watch the games is an encouraging sign that the sport is on the right track to glory.
The secretary general of the GBA, Abdoulie Jallow, expressed heartfelt joy and happiness for the successful completion of the tournament. According to him, the level of competition shown is enough encouragement to say that Gambian basketball is coming back to life once again.
Speaking further, SG Jallow noted that the purpose for which the competition was organised is being achieved, adding that they would use other future competitions to learn from their weaknesses, from the organisational aspect to the standard of refereeing, from which they will be able to improve on so as to make the game more appealing to the population.
He remarked that the 3-on-3 tournament has given opportunity to everyone to showcase their talents in basketball, noting that they would like to capitalise on the momentum the games has already created, by teaming up as an executive committee to come up with the schedule for the new domestic league season.
Also speaking to this reporter was the Charge d' Affaires at the US Embassy, Richard Yoneoka, who assessed the overall tournament as a success. He described the competition as a wonderful tournament for the young people who were able to express themselves in the field of play.
He also complimented his US Embassy team for what he described as their wonderful performance during the games, noting that they really had some fun. "Looking at the overall tournament, it is a very great competition and we as the US Embassy would not hesitate to continue helping The Gambia Basketball Association (GBA) to develop basketball in The Gambia," he added.
"By giving medals to the respective winners and runners up," he went on, "it would serve as a source of motivation to the young ones to take up basketball seriously". Yoneoka concluded by thanking the GBA for organisng such a tournament while commending the sponsors and collaborators for successful games.

THE 2014 National classic basketball league throws off March 15 with matches in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru.
According to the calendar of events released by Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) fixtures secretary Joseph Amoko, the league - both premier and lower division will have some 477 games in both the regular season and the Play offs.
He revealed that the Play off quarter finals will involve 36 matches and will be played in the best of three series.
The semi finals will have 30 matches while there will be 15 in the finals all to be played in the best of five series. Co-operative Bank of Kenya and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) are the reigning men and women champions.
Equity Bank, Strathmore University, Ulinzi Blades and Footprints were promoted and will battle it out with the best in the top tier.
The KBF season starts  on February County with the national coaches clinic in all counties. Nairobi will host the AGM at a date yet to be determined.

Kenya Basketball Federation league champions Co-op Bank and Kenya Ports Authority are among the 16 Fiba Africa Zone Five teams to compete at the inaugural George Jones (Sports Cup between February 13 and 16 at the Nyayo Stadium.
Joining Co-op in the men's competition are Ulinzi Warriors and KPA from Kenya, Uganda's Falcons and the Warriors. Tanzania will have Don Bosco while Burundi will be represented by Urunani and Espoir.
Three more Kenyan teams, Strathmore University, United States International University (USIU) and KPA will join Ulinzi in the women's event.
They will be competing against Uganda's KCCA Leopards and Christian University, Don Bosco of Tanzania and Burundi's Berco Stars.
Winners in the men's category will bag Sh500, 000 while the winning women'steam will pocket Sh300, 000. Second-placed teams in both categories will pocket Sh100, 000 each while best players in the two categories will get Sh50, 000 each.

RWANDA Basketball Federation has expressed its desire to their Ugandan counterparts to have the Zone V U19 Championships postponed because of the country’s 20th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi slated for April and July.

Speaking to local media this week, Ferwaba president Desire Mugwiza said: “We requested the Uganda basketball federation to have the U19 competition moved since it is a sad period for Rwanda and, usually, we don’t have any sports activities in the country during that period.”

During that period every year, all sports activities come to a standstill as the country remembers the sportsmen and women, fans and administrators who passed away during the Genocide.

Among the key players killed during the Genocide include, Emmanuel Ntarugera (Gisembe), a well-known basketball player for Espoir.

If Uganda turns down Rwanda’s request and goes ahead with the tournament, only five countries might participate. They are Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt, Burundi and Uganda.

In a related development, the City of Mombasa will host this year’s African Zone 5 basketball club championships from August 25 to 31.

KENYA Basketball Federation (KBF) will introduce mid-week Premier League matches this year to enable the programme to end early enough, a top official revealed yesterday. Joseph Amoko, the KBF fixtures secretary said the federation is concerned about the league dragging on for too long for the last few years and want to reduce the playing time to enable players to have enough rest before the new season.
This system, he noted will help spread the matches and have the league end in good time. He observed that for the last few years, the league has dragged on for too long because of the number of teams involved. The last match in the fixture last year was played just two days before the Christmas holiday .
It involved eventual winners Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and United States International University (USIU). KPA took the series 3-2 to earn their 14th women's title. For this to be realised, KBF are already holding talks with a potential sponsor over the matter. Amoko said the 2014 season will tip off next month with the pre-season tournament planned for February 22-23at the Railways Club.

Newly elected Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) executive led by president Addison Chiware faces a daunting task of transforming the fortunes of the sport.
Chiware and his team were elected at the BUZ Annual Congress, at the National Sports Stadium last weekend.
Other members of the executive include the secretary general Joe Mujuru, competitions director Forbes Shuva and Skhumbuzo Ndlovu who will take charge of the Technical and Development portfolio.
Charmaine Chamboko will be responsible for Women and Youth Development while Shinga Magede retained his position at the helm of the Athletes' Commission.
Basketball in the country has recently been far from impressive, both on and off the pitch.
Flagship teams have in many occasions failed to fulfill international assignments largely due to financial difficulties or have performed badly on national duty.
Chiware was however optimistic of a bright future.
"I think failure to attend tournaments will be a thing of the past now given the new dispensation of a stand-alone ministry of sports," Chiware said.
"Minister Andrew Langa has also promised us that we will have the full backing of the government. But we are also going into partnerships with multinational companies, a move which will ease some of our financial burdens," he added.
Chiware said they were looking forward to the task ahead as they seek to take basketball to another level in the next four years. Their focus would be on winning medals in various regional, continental and international events.
"The next step is podium performance, we want to see the best level of basketball. We want medals starting from our junior level especially at this year's Zone Six Under-20 Games."
Zimbabwe basketball has clearly failed to make a mark on the international stage with a combined ranking of 113 and joint 24rd in Africa.
It is the women team, ranked 73th in the world that has continued to show promise, qualifying for continental tournaments, while their male counterparts have been nothing short of mediocre in performance.
Half of the personnel in the previous executive failed to last the distance of their term citing other commitments. It will be interesting to see if the incumbent executive can see the term through in one piece.

The game of basketball had been dormant in the country for almost a decade until the present executive of the Gambia Basketball Association (GBA) took office, a couple of years ago. The sport has since witnessed a remarkable transformation with the executive working tirelessly to bring back its glory days.
This past weekend, the GBA, in partnership with the United States Embassy in Banjul, Africell, Skye Bank, DBC and West Coast Radio (WCR) completed the first phase of this year's 3 on 3 basketball tournament, at the Independence Stadium Court in Bakau. The tournament which is in its second year, drew massive participation from young and old players.
Speaking to Observer Sports ahead of the final instalment of games this weekend, the secretary -general of the GBA, Abdoulie Jallow pointed out that the impressive turnout was because of the fact that the fans and players had missed the game which took a break, due to the rainy season.
"People have come out, they have been missing basketball and as we are trying to complete the third day of the games, they have been going on successfully and it seems like everybody is enjoying themselves. We had promised that this second season of our executive, we are going to be more exciting and we are in no doubt in that direction. We hope that the season will be completed in this way, as we looked at both having fun while also looking grassroots level. We want to take basketball to another level," Jallow told this reporter.
He added: "We just have to take this to be the ice-breaker. When you see everybody playing together and mixing, you see the charge d ' affaire of the US embassy, the US peace corp volunteers, you see Africell here, you see other teams from other institutions, it's just an ice-breaker that we all want. We are into developing basketball and we would want to take the game to another level. So when we come to the proper competitive games,we would compete fiercely but fairly just as my president (Papa Njie) would say."
When asked about the drive behind the untiring energy from the GBA executive to witness a turnaround in the fortunes of the game in the country, Jallow opined that it is all derived from the passion for sport.
Jallow, who concluded by sayng that he has spotted talents during the tournament, said what is necessary to nurture those promising talents is to capacitate basketball coaches, which he said the GBA is looking into in order to make their respective players better.
Also, speaking to Observer Sports was the president of the GBA, Muhammadou Papa Njie, who sounded his immense impression at the participation of the tournament. "Words cannot even express how I feel, [and] I think that also goes to all my executive members, [because] we were not expecting the turnout we got. We had about 40 teams in both men and women categories and this is the first time in the history of Gambian basketball to get all these teams together. So, we have achieved our target already even without playing the finals. I also really want to thank the supporters who came out in their large numbers. So am really excited and it just goes to show that basketball is about to be the number one sport in The Gambia," the confident- looking Njie intimated.
When quizzed as to the rationale behind the tournament, Njie replied that it's another form of basketball, slightly different from the standard form of the game which is five. He added that the 3 on 3 is played on a half court, but the rules to the competitions remained the same.
"Basically, it's another form of basketball that is a crowd puller and this is the second time we are doing it. It is a signal we give out to people that the season is about to start and we also want to show to everybody that basketball is not about the active person, but is also for the youth, young girls, young boys, the elderly [as well]," he stressed.
In conclusion, the basketball boss singled out appreciation to both the volleyball and wrestling associations for their support throughout the tournament. He equally thanked all the sponsors who have helped GBA towards the success of the tournament. Muhammed Njie and Adama Drammeh, both league players expressed delight at the tournament and then thanked the GBA for reviving the game.

Following the Zone Five Basketball Games scheduled in May 2014 in Uganda, the local basketball federation-Ferwaba has requested the Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) to switch the date of the competition upon a claim that, it will be during the 100-days of commemorating the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.
The Ferwaba president, Desire Mugwiza said, "We requested the Uganda basketball federation that the U19 competition be moved since it is a sad period for Rwanda and usually, most of the competitions don't take place in the country."
When asked if a response was received, Mugwiza said, "Up to now, the Ugandan federation has not officially replied to the request."
During that period every year, most of the sports activities come to a standstill for the country to remember the sports men and women, fans and administrators who passed away during that period. Among the players killed during the genocide include Emmanuel Ntarugera (Gisembe) , a commonly well-known basketball player from Espoir.
In general, the basketball fraternity lost many players and fans such as Gisembe and others, a reason as to why the country continues to grieve for the athletes who passed away.
Six countries will compete in this year's Zone 5 in Uganda including Rwanda Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt, Burundi and hosts Uganda

RWANDA Men’s basketball team moved five places, from 67th to 62nd, in the latest Fiba Continental Championships ranking released on Tuesday. With 6.6 points, Rwanda is ranked 62nd in the world, 12th in Africa and 2nd in Zone V, behind Egypt. Uganda is ranked 86th and Kenya is a place below in 87th position in the world while in Africa, Uganda which is ranked 25th still beats Kenya which is in the 26th position.
The women team dropped two places to 63rd with four points while USA, Australia and Russia top the world ranking.
In Africa’s women ranking, Rwanda is ranked 11th. Mali, Angola and Senegal are ranked first, second and third respectively.
USA, Spain and Argentina make the top three best ranked men’s teams in the World, while Angola is the best ranked African country in 15th position followed by Nigeria and Tunisia in 18th and 23rd positions respectively.
The Rwanda Basketball Federation, Ferwaba chairman Desire Mugwiza said yesterday: “We are happy with the improvements. This shows that we did well at both club and national team levels last year, and also in terms of giving a chance to local players.”
The men’s team current ranking is attributed to last year’s performance at the Fiba Afro-basket Championship held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire where the country finished tenth.
Following a 54-76 loss to Tunisia in the 9th/10th position playoff, Rwanda went two places up the grid having finished in 12th position at the 2011 edition in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The Zone V representatives are yet to put up a better performance than they did at the 2009 edition of the biennial event where Rwanda finished in ninth position in Libya.

Contact email: bonnie.mugabe[at]newtimes.co.rw