Buz prepares for Under-18 Afrobasket tourney

BASKETBALL Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) president Joe Mujuru says they are ready to excel at the Fiba Under-18 Women’s AfroBasket 2024 tournament, which gets underway in South Africa on Sunday.

The 12-nation tournament will be staged in Pretoria up to September 13. Teams have been divided into three groups of four teams and the tournament hosts South Africa were drawn in Group A alongside Tunisia, Rwanda and Cameroon.

Fiba Africa awarded wild-card entries to Rwanda, Tunisia and Zimbabwe to complete the 12-team line-up.
Zimbabwe are in Group C alongside Egypt, Uganda and Nigeria.

“The team led by Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu resumed camp today (yesterday) in Johannesburg ahead of the start of the tournament.

We are really excited to be taking part in a competition of this magnitude. With this team, it has always been work in progress. We have been working with them from Under-16. We would love to win but at this age it’s more about development than winning,” said Mujuru.

The finalists of the Fiba Under-18 Women’s AfroBasket 2024 will represent Africa at next year’s Fiba Under-19 Basketball World Cup in the Czech Republic.

In the group phase, teams will face off in a round-robin system. The teams that finish first and second in each group will advance to the quarter-finals and will be joined by the two best third-placed teams.

The winners of the quarter-finals will advance to the semi-finals, while the losers will play the classification games for the fifth to eighth places. The classification game for third-place and the final will be played on the last day of competition (September 14).

Exceptional performances at the continental championship can open doors to a college scholarships or a professional careers.

Meanwhile, the Bulawayo Basketball Association (BBA) will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on October 10 as they begin plans for the forthcoming 2024/25 season.

The whole idea behind this is to come up with the programme for the year. All clubs will be represented as we come up with the dates and budgets for the year. BBA has an Elite League, Women’s League, Men’s B League and Men’s C League.

Group A: South Africa, Tunisia, Cameroon, Rwanda.
Group B: Mali, Morocco, Zambia, Angola.
Group C: Egypt, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria.