Basketball in Africa

By Suleiman Jongo

Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) is seeking financial support for both men’s and women’s basketball teams, dubbed “Dream Teams” to participate in the East, Central and Southern Africa Inter-Cities Championship.

The regional event, planned to take place in Mombasa from March 20 to 28 will see more than ten teams from various cities taking part.

Local players are currently under intensive training at the National Indoor Stadium in Dar es Salaam but lack of funds has been a stumbling block for them.

A BD official, Mbaga Mwamboma, said yesterday that they were looking for Sh20 million to use in preparations and participation of both teams in the event.

“We are currently running the teams on a shoe-string budget and cannot manage to raise all the funds. We therefore call for urgent financial assistance from firms, institutions and individuals,” said Mwamboma.

He said participation of the two teams has a great impact for the country as far as sports development is concerned.

Dar es Salaam is among cities which had volunteered for the establishment of the regional event and has had an active participation.

Dar es Salaam’s men last year narrowly lost the championship to Mombasa while their sisters lost to Nairobi in the finals held in Arusha.

The event has attracted other local cities-Mbeya, Arusha, Tanga and Mwanza. Sudan’s Khartoum has also declared its intention to appear for the first time in this year’s event.

The president of the regional governing basketball body, Simon Msoffe, said yesterday that the event has been expanding, and new teams have joined each year.

Last year Somalia’s Mogadishu participated for the first time in the event and was a force to reckon with despite failing to emerge winners.
“We expect to have more new teams registering for the event to make it more thrilling,” said Msoffe, who holds the same post in the BD.

As the time for the event gets close, more than ten cities’ combined teams have confirmed participating in both men and women disciplines. They include hosts Mombasa, Kampala, Nairobi and Harare.
“We very much thank our last year’s sponsors, SD Africa, for their kind support. We hope they will be with us again this time and sponsor other local cities,” said Msoffe.