Innocent Kurira, Sports Writer
The draw for the second edition of the Khanyisile Foundation Basketball Tournament was held in the city on Friday evening with Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) president Joe Mujuru praising the organisers for pushing the growth of the sport in the country.
The tournament which will be held on October 27-29 at Khanyisile Sports Centre (BCD) will see teams from Bulawayo, Harare and Midlands taking part. Following the draw, Group A in the men’s category will consist of Lakers, Mavericks, Mahogany Rush and Falcons. Group B will have Bucs, Warriors, Young Stars and Legends.
In the women’s division, Group A has Lakers Mzansi, Mahogany, Highlanders and Vixens while Group B features UZ Sparks, Arcadia Bucs and Bulawayo City Towers. Mujuru said Buz appreciates the organisers of the tournament for having this competition again this year.
“As Buz, we get so much excited when we hear of programmes such as this one. Tournaments like this go a long way in aiding the development of basketball in the country. It is from such competitions that we see our future stars and players who can represent our national teams. This is only testimony that the Bulawayo Basketball Association (BBA) is doing a sterling job to develop basketball in the city,” said Mujuru.
His sentiments were echoed by Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) provincial co-ordinator Sam Dzvimbu.
“We are really impressed with how basketball is growing in the city. A fortnight ago we hosted the Nash finals here in Bulawayo and a week later we had a highly competitive pre-season tournament. Now we have another tournament coming with teams from outside Bulawayo which also should be exciting. The more we have these competitions the more the sport grows and attracts sponsors. Well done to Khanyisile Foundation for coming up with this initiative,” said Dzvimbu.
Meanwhile, Khanyisile Sports Centre is set to be a hive of activity as the BBA Elite League gets underway this afternoon. The Elite League is a new division that has been introduced this year to improve the competitiveness of the top men’s league.
Six teams will take part in the pilot league. The teams that finished in the top four last season which are Legends, Mavericks, Lakers and Giants have automatic qualification into the Elite League.
Highlanders who finished first in the B League have the fifth slot.
While Nust A joined the league after winning the Elite League Qualifiers.
Elite League Fixtures
Giants v Highlanders, Nust v Southern Mavericks, Lakers Talen Vision v Legends — @innocentskizoe