admin
Mzingaye Sibanda Sports Reporter
LAKERS thrashed JBC 44-29 to win the Unity Day Basketball Tournament held at Richwood Park in Harare over the weekend. Lakers women’s team broke a 16-year jinx to win silverware in the capital in a competitive tournament. No Bulawayo teams have done it in more than a decade.
To book the final berth Lakers had made light work of Green Stars whom they beat 68-30. Lakers coach Sikhumbuzo “SV” Ndlovu said the victory was a breaking dawn for Bulawayo teams.
“It’s excellent to finally win something after 16 years. This is a breakthrough for Bulawayo teams and I believe we have a chance to dominate especially in the women’s category.
“It was three days of excellent basketball and a perfect way to celebrate and remember what people like Ronald Garura did for basketball,” he said.
The tournament was also meant to celebrate the life of the late former national team coach and basketball legend Garura. Garura was one of the most talented basketball point guards that ever emerged from Mashonaland and a Zimbabwe basketball legend.
The former national team coach and Cavaliers basketball team legend died in 2012 in South Africa. Lakers’ Fadzai Mabasa was voted the most valuable player while her teammate Cleopatra Manda was the most disciplined player.
In the men’s category Cameo thumped Mercenaries 37-31 in the final to be crowned champions. Meanwhile former United States basketball coach Jack Ramsay conducted a coaching workshop at Evelyn High School in Bulawayo on Monday.
The legend had conducted a similar workshop in Harare and he concluded his mission in Zimbabwe with a four-hour workshop in Bulawayo.
Ramsay is among the most respected coaches in US National Basketball Association history and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Online Reporter