BBL starts tomorrow

Sport
THE Bulawayo Basketball League season is set to start tomorrow with the association giving teams that have not registered up to Wednesday to affiliate.

THE Bulawayo Basketball League season is set to start tomorrow with the association giving teams that have not registered up to Wednesday to affiliate.

THANDIWE MOYO SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Four teams in the women’s category have so far registered while six in the men’s will be playing this weekend. Women’s teams that have registered include Flame Lillies, Lupane, Highlanders and Mavericks while Nust, City Knights, Highlanders, Milton Elephants, Mavericks and Oilers are the men’s teams.

Bulawayo Basketball Association (BBA) secretary-general Howard Phangwana confirmed the start of the league.

“The league is starting this weekend, but the major handicap is that we will be using one court because the other one was damaged during the pre-season tournament. Normally we use two courts, but the other one is being repaired,” he said.

Phangwana said their other problem was that clubs were slow to affiliate, but they had postponed the deadline for them to register.

“At the moment we have four women’s teams and six men’s teams that will be playing at the weekend. We usually allow the teams to play and affiliate as the season progresses, but we have had problems with teams that end up not affiliating and playing throughout the season. This becomes a problem when they have to take part in the National Club Championships. We have given them up to Wednesday to register, should they fail only the teams that are paid up will play throughout the season,” he said.

The BBA secretary-general said they were ready for the league and were going to hold a meeting with the referees and coaches before the matches tomorrow.

“Fiba (Federation of International Basketball Associations) released a new set of rules recently which will come into effect on October 14. We have organised a symposium for referees and coaches so that they are on the same page when the new rules come into effect,” he said.

In the first match soon after the meeting, Flame Lillies will take on Lupane while Highlanders date Mavericks. In the men’s category, Nust will take on City Knights, Highlanders will face Milton Elephants while Mavericks will clash with Oilers.

Giants, Lakers, Nkulumane Stars, Lords and Hawks are still to register.