TBF rues missing Zone V Afrobasket

TANZANIA Basketball Federation (TBF) has blamed poor communication as the main reason for the failure to send the national women’s team to the Preliminaries Afrobasket Women Zone V tournament.

The competition which started on February 14th this year is scheduled to wind up on February 19th  at Lugogo Indoor Arena in Kampala, Uganda according to TBF secretary general Mwenze Kabinda.

Kabinda said that the failure to participate in the competition was due to the delay in obtaining the official information from the organisers, thus having a limited time for the team preparation.

“In accordance with the procedures and guidelines of the National Sports Council (NSC) regarding the participation of national teams in international competitions, we couldn’t have enough time to comply with them.

“The federation apologises for the challenges that arose due to the missing out of our women’s team in this important competition that save as qualifiers for the African continental competition,” he said.

Due to the challenge, Kabinda said the federation has taken steps to form a special committee for the national teams.

“TBF would like to announce to the regions affiliated TBF members and the public about the submission of its proposal for the creation of a special committee for national teams (Junior and Senior) that will be responsible for improving the performance of Tanzania’s national basketball teams,” he stressed.

Also, the committee will be responsible for developing talents among the youth in the country, gathering resources to support the national teams and promote basketball throughout the country, and inspiring stakeholders and Tanzanians, in general, to invest in the game.

He said this committee will be made up of   11 members from various areas in society (the Ministry responsible for sports and NSC, Coaches, and Stakeholders from the private sector including financial institutions, media, lawyers, financial advisors as well as public figures) where each member will have his duties according to his or her position.

Kabinda said in collaboration with the government through the NSC, all members will be given their letters of appointment to begin their duties.

“The purpose of the existence of this committee is to help the government to trigger our national team’s smooth preparation and better performance in the international arenas so as to put the country into the spotlight.”