Uncertainty stalks U-18 b/ball team

A DARK cloud of uncertainty hovers over the Zimbabwe Under-18 girls basketball team’s camp as they prepare for the Fiba Africa Championships.

The tournament is slated for August 26-September 6 in Egypt, but there are fears that the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe will fail to dispatch the team due to financial contraints.

This comes after the boys failed to travel to Rwanda last week for their own tournament.

BUZ president Addison Chiware said, “While it is generally regrettable that the boys failed to make their trip to Rwanda, we hope to correct this with the girls next month.

The reason the boys failed to travel to Rwanda is a combination of failure to acquire the required funds and a timing issue.

“We were only notified of the dates and venues roughly a week or so after the qualifiers, which we hosted in June, and our coffers were dry. This then did not give us enough time to then round up more funds in time, as we only had roughly about a month before the Rwanda games.”

Chiware is confident of getting it right with the girls’ team.

“It is a mistake we do not intend to make again as we have had an extra month to prepare for the girls and are currently working around the clock to round up the required money. This tournament is very important in terms of our junior development policy and as such we want to make sure we attend this tournament,” he said.

According to information coming from the Zimbabwe Under-18 girls’ camp, a budget of between US$40 000 and US$60 000 is needed to fund the trip.

“At the moment, I cannot state for a fact that the team will indeed travel to Egypt, but we remain hopeful,” said girls team’s chef de mission Charmaine Chamboko. “We have come up with a budget in the region of US$60 000, and while we are still in constant communication with our prospective sponsors all we have at the moment are just promises.

“The only thing that has gone our way is that we have managed to fund the girls’ camp, as some well-wishers have come in and chipped in with things like water, training supplies and warm up kits.”