23 March 2009

TANZANIA : More teams arrive ahead of basketball tournament

By Suleiman Jongo

As kick-off day draws closer, more teams are arriving in Arusha for the intercity basketball championships set to start tomorrow.

Teams from three Kenya cities arrive today from Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

The event was earlier expected to feature teams from ten cities. However, Mwanza withdrew two days before kick-off because of shortage of funds.
The president of the East, Central and Southern Africa Basketball

Federation, Simon Msoffe, confirmed yesterday that teams from Harare (Zimbabwe) and Mogadishu (Somalia) were already in Arusha from Friday.
This is the first time Harare and Mogadishu teams are included in the regional tourney.

Msoffe said teams from Dar es Salaam and Tanga are also expected to report in Arusha today.
In the men�s discipline, the Dar es Salaam team, dubbed �Dream Team� vowed to defend their title well.

The team comprises players who took part in the recently-ended RBA Kili league. This was organised by Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) and sponsored by the Kilimanjaro Premium Lager.
"We hope all the teams will be here today. This will give us ample time to draw up fixtures," said Msoffe.

The regional tourney is held on rotation among member countries.
Its main objective is to develop basketball in the region and strengthen friendship among players.

Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?