‘Zimbabwe basketball has a long way to go’

IN a few days, the 2023 FIBA World will roar into life!

It will be the 19th basketball world extravaganza that will be hosted by multiple countries including Japan, Philippines and Indonesia.

The contest will run from August 25 to September 10 with a total of 32 countries taking to the courts to fight for the top honours.

Unfortunately, Zimbabwe will not be part of the competitors amid revelations by Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) president Joe Mujuru that they are still laying the foundations to ensure someday the country will participate not only in the World Cup but also in various elite international competitions.

“We still have a long way to go before we can get to that level but nothing is impossible. We just have to get the basics correct. The talent is there but we need to participate more in international competitions.

“As we speak, the association has been to Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Matabeleland South conducting refresher courses for referees and coaches. These are the programmes we should be pushing,” said Mujuru.

He added: “We intend to even go into districts. We need to build a base in terms of our technical understanding of the game in the country by training our coaches and referees so that our players can excel at the highest level. That way, we get to improve our standards and give us an opportunity to qualify and play at these top events.”

For Zimbabwe to qualify for the World Cup they needed to have qualified for the Afrobasket finals but they also did not qualify for that.

The FIBA World Cup is a basketball competition that was founded by the International Basketball Federation.

This event was initially known as the FIBA World Championship from its start in 1950 until 2010. After that, it became the FIBA World Cup. The first FIBA World Cup was held in Argentina in 1950. This country was chosen as the venue because it was the only country prepared to host it.

Argentina won all of the games and has become the primary FIBA World Champion. After this tournament, the next five tournaments were scheduled for South America. During this time, the basketball teams from America dominated and won eight of the nine medals in the first three tournaments. — @innocentskizoe