MBA teams to compete at BUZ national championships

Blessing Rwizi

FOUR male and two female basketball teams from Manicaland Basketball Association will this month take part in the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe national championships set for Bulawayo. 2016 national championships have been slated from April 30 up to May 2. Dangamvura Knights, Mercenaries, Chiefs and Chikanga Hustlers will be representing MBA male section, while Wolves and Sharks will be participating in the females’ categories.

City Sophists, Chiefs, Africa University and Chikanga Hustlaz are, however, still battling it out to qualify for the national championships.

Other teams to take part in the upcoming games are JBC and Cameo from Harare.

Benson Nyatanga, former Dangamvura Knights captain and former Mercenaries point guard, Kudakwashe ‘KP8’ Pote will be playing for JBC.

Wolves’ ladies will be banking on the trio of Gladys Tohwe, Nadia Mohammad and Rudo Vito, while Sharks will be banking on experienced players, Emma Bepe and Aisha Simone.

MBA spokesperson, Taurai Dhliwayo, said this year more teams from Manicaland would be taking part in the competitions compared to the previous year.

“Our teams have done very well as compared to 2015. We have more teams representing MBA this year. We are hoping for the best in Bulawayo. We hope other teams still battling to qualify will make it,” said Dhliwayo.

One of Wolves’ best players, Gladys Tohwe, said: “We are already geared for the national championships since we never rested after the interprovincial competitions held a few weeks ago in Masvingo.

Despite being Wolves as a team, we are also taking some of the best players from the teams that failed to qualify for the national championship to come with strong and effective teams. Despite financial challenges that the team was facing we made it to this year’s games. It was motivation and hard work that saw our team improving this year.

“I would also want to thank all supporters who are taking much of their time to motivate us each and every weekend as we train for the national championships.”