Chronicle Editor
Descent Dube, Sports Reporter
LAKERS Foundation will hold its annual three-day basketball Under-16 schools tournament from today to mark the organisation’s 10th-year anniversary.
Khanyisile Sports Centre and Eveline High School will host the tournament set be attended by 28 schools from the country’s 10 provinces.
Nothando Vuyiswa Moyo, the Lakers Foundation public relations officer, said they had settled for Under-16s because they are the founding age group of the foundation.
“Save for Mutare High and Goromonzi High, all the basketball powerhouses have confirmed their participation. Our objective is to bridge the gap in basketball between other parts of the country and Bulawayo,” said Moyo.
She said Lakers realised that something drastic had to be done for Bulawayo schools to close the gap and be able to compete with schools like Girls High from Harare and Mazowe High.
“Lakers basketball team had the opportunity to compete on the continent and we thought it will be a great idea to give Bulawayo schools an opportunity to play against their counterparts from all corners of the country. We seek to identify talent while teams that rarely rub shoulders play in the tournament,” she said.
The foundation is also preparing to host a primary schools Under-13 event in June before hosting some international teams in November as part of the celebrations.
“2019 is a year which we’ve decided to celebrate our milestone by hosting three tournaments and we’ll use that opportunity to assess our technical skills levels,” she said.
The girls’ category has been divided into three pools, with Pool A made up of Nkulumane High, Empandeni, Girls High B, and Founders, Pool B is Girls High A, Ihlathi, Wanezi and Thekwane, while Pool C comprises Loreto, JZ Moyo, Eveline, Sizane and St Francis.
The boys’ category are yet to be confirmed and will be made public once all participating schools have arrived.
— @DecoDecent2.
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