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ZIMBABWE has been handed a tricky 2015 Afro-Basket Championships task after being pooled in Group D together with two former champions Senegal and Ivory Coast as well as the fast rising Cape Verde.
The Afro-basket Championships are slated for August 20 to 30 in Tunisia.
Hosts Tunisia, Angola, Egypt and Ivory Coast were the four seeded teams and were placed in Groups A, B, C and D respectively.
Tunisia are joined by Uganda, Nigeria and Algeria in Group A, while Angola, Mozambique, Central African Republic and Morocco make up Group B.
Egypt, Gabon, Mali and Cameron comprise Group C.
The first phase of the tournament will be played in a round robin format, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the round of eight.
As the draw was being conducted in Tunis, the national team finally began their preparations for the tournament in Harare.
The camp, which began on Friday, saw mostly local-based players assemble at the University of Zimbabwe basketball courts.
Robert Mugabe junior was the only foreign-based player at training, with the United Arab Emirates-based centre looking sharp throughout the drills.
Coach Ellery Pinkerton disclosed that the first phase of the training programme is mainly focused on team building and fitness.
“Basically, the purpose of this first camp is mainly to familiarise the boys with what I want them to do and also work on their fitness.
“The initial plan here is that I work with local-based players for the first few camps before I start trimming the team down.
“We are hoping to have the foreign-based players in by July after which I will come up with the final squad of 16,” said Pinkerton.
Online Reporter