adminRicky Zililo in BULAWAYO
THE Zimbabwe men and women’s teams will be involved in do-or-die encounters against their South African counterparts who they play in the last Afro-Basketball and All-Africa Games qualifiers at Bulawayo’s Zimbabwe international Trade Fair Showgrounds today.
Both Zimbabwean teams lost their first leg matches to South Africa with the women going down 63-69 while the host men narrowly lost by four points with the scoreline reading 60-64.
Knowing well that nothing other than a victory will see them through, Zimbabwean teams are expected to overturn the scoreline and qualify for the continental finals later this year.
South Africa are second in the men’s table tied on seven points with Zimbabwe and the former needs an outright win if they are to join regional powerhouse Angola for the trip to the Afro-Basketball Championships co-hosted by Tunisia and Cameroon.
Yesterday South Africa suffered a shock 55-71 defeat to Seychelles while Zimbabwe lost 50-98 to Angola who finished the qualifiers without dropping a point.
By topping the group, Angola who are the reigning Afro-Basketball champions booked their ticket to the All-Africa Games to be held in Congo Brazzaville later this year.
In the women’s category, South Africa are at the top of the three-nation table with six points from three games and are just a point from Zimbabwe who were in the last All-Africa Games and Afro-Basketball Championships held in Mozambique in 2011 and 2013 respectively.
For Zimbabwe to qualify for both continental show-pieces, they need to win their match against South Africa by more than seven basket points.
“Its grand finale and fans are guaranteed of an exciting battle in the last matches involving Zimbabwe and South Africa. Zimbabwe women need to beat South Africa by more than seven points and it remains to be seen whether their opponents will narrowly lose the game or not. What we’ve realised is that South African basketball has improved and Zimbabwe need to up their game if they are to win these matches,” said the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe technical president Sikhumbuzo “SV” Ndlovu last night.
Results Yesterday
Men: Zimbabwe 50-98 Angola, Seychelles 71-55 South Africa
Women: Zimbabwe 76-44 Botswana.
Online Reporter
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