Buz cancel DR Congo trip

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) has abandoned plans to send a team to the 3×3 Fiba Under-18 Africa Cup in the DR Congo after failing to get Government clearance.

Buz had last month applied for clearance through the Sports and Recreation Commission but was forced to cancel the trip on Tuesday evening after failing to get a favourable response.

Buz wanted to send a boys’ and girls’ team to the tournament that is also a 3×3 Under-18 World Cup.

“We took a decision on Tuesday not to travel because it was already late to secure flights. Time had run out and we had to take this difficult decision. We also took into consideration logistical processes, which include Covid-19 tests that players had to go through. Also, at this point, we noted that the team wouldn’t get time to have at least two training sessions before competing, rendering all effort useless as they would have performed badly,” said Joe Mujuru, the Buz president.

He however, expressed gratitude to the Home Affairs Ministry for urgently addressing the issue of the athletes’ passports.

“The Home Affairs Ministry assisted us a lot in making sure that athletes that had no passports got them on time. Hopefully these athletes will in the near future go on to represent Zimbabwe on international scene using these documents,” Mujuru said.

He said they are hoping to get response from the SRC on the Under-16s, who are due for an international competition next month. – @ZililoR