Author: SULEIMAN JONGO
AfricaPress-Tanzania: TWENTY regions have confirmed fielding both men and women teams in the forthcoming Taifa Cup Basketball whose showdown will be staged in Dodoma from November 12th to 22nd this year.
Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) confirmed yesterday through its technical director of competitions, Manaseh Zablon that the regions are gauging ahead of the tenday annual event.
“We are all set for the tournament, thanks for CRDB bank for coming onboard to support accommodation, transport and other costs, ” said Zablon.
He named the confirmed regions as reigning champions in both men and women disciplines, Mwanza, Dar es Salaam ( to field three teams from Ilala, Temeke and Kinondoni, regarded as regions).
Others are hosts Dodoma, Mbeya, Songwe, Ruvuma, Coast, Singida, Rukwa, Simiyu, Arusha, Zanzibar, Manyara and Shinyanga. The list has Lindi, Mtwara, Iringa, Morogoro.
The previous edition took place in Simiyu and was supported by Regional Commissioner (RC), Anthony Mtaka, who is also Athletic Tanzania ( AT) president.
Zablon said the tournament will be used by the technical experts to select both men and women teams ahead of various international tournaments.
Among others are the East and Central African Championship, which Tanzania has participated for a number of years.
“We need to have strong teams that will pose a stiff opposition to other countries when competing against other countries in the international events,” he said.
He said the selection of the players will principally base on their individual best performance and discipline in and off the field.
Zablon has urged regional teams to continue preparing predicting the tournament will be tough and exciting.
“It will be two weeks of full packed actions with players showcasing their talent in dribbling, passing and scoring,” he said.
Apart from selecting the national teams, he said the event will also expose new talent.
“We expect to see a big number of young talented players who will be exposed and later promoted to a level of international competitions,” he said.
Basketball is one of the sporting events that lacked a massive financial support in recent years.
TBF had in the past managed to produce best players in the likes of Abdullah Ramadhani ( Dulla) who played to the international level. He played for Cobra of Seychelles.
The coming of CRDB will therefore stimulate the best performance of the teams to a high excellent as they will be capable to travel and compete.
