Basketball in Africa

Arusha — ARUSHA and Kilimanjaro regions will take turns in hosting an annual open basketball tournament with the former staging the maiden event from September 20-27, this year.
The inaugural 2014 Kilimanjaro Open Basketball Tournament to involve 30 teams and over 400 participants will be staged at the Soweto grounds, Kaloleni area in Arusha.
The tournament's organizing committee chairman, Michael Mwita, said on Monday that efforts are being made to identify several other venues for the week-long event.
He said teams from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and hosts Tanzania are expected to take part in the maiden championship but they anticipate more entries as invitations have already been sent to several other African countries.
The first Kilimanjaro Basketball Tournament is organized by the Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) in collaboration with the Arusha Region Basketball Association (ARBA).
It aims to cultivate good neighbourhood and cement sporting relations amongst the participating teams. "Arusha will host this year's tournament but next year it will be Kilimanjaro's turn to stage it in Moshi municipality as competitions will be rotating between the two regions in Northern Tanzania," Mwita said.
More than 20 men's and 10 women's teams from within and outside the country will converge in Arusha for the inaugural championship. The organizers have appealed to potential sponsors to support the event this year.
Mwita said after the tournament players will be taken for a trekking adventure on top of Mount Kilimanjaro as the event is also meant to promote tourism.
Meanwhile, Arusha basketball officials have started to build a strong regional team for the Taifa Cup basketball championship set for November in Dodoma.
ARBA Chairman Barick Kilimba said a regional championship will be held in the city from October 6-27 to pick the team that will take part in the Taifa Cup.