Author: MBONILE BURTON
AfricaPress-Tanzania: AFTER a brilliant show in the National Basketball League, lethal pointer Amin Mkosa now wants to stamp his authority in the CRDB Bank Taifa Cup to be staged in mid-November.
Mkosa played a big role in Kurasini Heat’s victories of both the Regional Basketball League (RBA) and the national level league (NBL).
Taifa Cup is being organised by Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) and will be held in Dar es Salaam from November 12th to 21st this year.
Mkosa said that after helping his team, Kurasini Heat to win both the NBL and RBA Leagues that he wants to post record treble by also winning the Taifa Cup playing for Temeke team of Dar es Salaam.
Dar es Salaam has been divided into three regions; Temeke, Kinondoni and Ilala. The selection of players will base on the teams that took part in RBA League from three districts.
Mkosa, who plays for Kurasini Heat after his Malawian team, Bravehearts allowed him to play temporary play in Tanzania, said it was not easy to win both NBL and RBA titles.
Mkosa, who emerged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of NBL, insisted the presence of top players from around Africa had a big impact in both leagues.
Mkosa, who also played for Power Basketball team of Uganda, did well there by helping his team to win double titles.
“To be frank, it wasn’t that easy, both leagues were very competitive, in general there were over 28 foreign players in different teams this time around. “As you know Tanzania is among a few or maybe only leagues that went on in Africa after many countries had halted sports activities due to coronavirus scare,” he said.
Adding, he said that the presence of foreign players strengthened the teams and made the league highly competitive, something which is very good for the development of the game.
He said that RBA format of best of three in quarter and semifinals and best of the best of five final added a dimension to the beauty of the league.
“At RBA I can tell all eight quarter finalists had equal chance to win the title, they were all very strong, maybe a few factors made the different,” he explained.
Mkosa reflected the final RBA match against rivals JKT among the hotly contested events.
“We had to be ready and fight, JKT beat us in the first final game, if it was played as a single final, they could have been crowned champions, but they were not as we had four games ahead to amend our mistake and we did respond very well, we went on to win three consecutive games to seal a 3-1 game victory and won title,” he recalled.
He added that they had to face a similar challenge in NBL where results were too close before sealing a 76-59 victory over Oilers and crowned champions.
