Basketball teams suffer setback

Dumisani Ncube | Friday May 29, 2015 11:33

 

This was said by basketball coaches at the ongoing Under-16 Afro Basketball qualifiers in Gaborone.

The coaches though, said the players should not be put under pressure. Six countries; South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the hosts, Botswana are taking part in the qualifiers

When the tournament started on Monday, only nine out of 12 registered players were in the line-up.

Boys’ team coach, Ketlwaelo Kepaletswe said the team was reduced to nine players as the rest did not have passports.

“We are only left with nine players in the team since the rest did not have passports.

“The tournament requires players to have their passports, but this message was poorly communicated to us,” he said.

He said some of the players who were left out are regulars in the team, which has compromised the quality of the squad.

“From the nine players, one of them is injured, which leaves us with eight players.

A basketball team is supposed to have 12 registered players in a match.

“We do not even have a medic to attend to the injured player,” mentioned the gaffer.

He said the team did not use the indoor facility at the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) hall where the tournament is being held due to short time preparations.  They only used the court once, he said.

The team has been training at Rainbow School basketball courts.

Co-coach, Kago Gagobepe concurred that the poor preparations and training facilities have contributed to the losses of both the boys and girls team in the opening games.

The girls lost 68-19 to South Africa while their male counterparts went down 120-14 to the same opponent. “The players have been demoralised by the series of events. Other teams look more professional and all their stuff is in order,” said Gagobepe.

Gagobepe said the tournament is poorly organised with the hosts not opening the event as is usually the norm.

On Wednesday evening, there was a power cut at the BNYC hall when the Zambia and Mozambique game was in its third quarter.

There were no back up generators and it was decided that the game should be taken to the University of Botswana (UB) courts.

However, it was also discovered that there was no power at the UB campus. The game was then postponed.

The power cut incident left a number of visiting officials upset.

Despite the early losses, girls’ coach, Olebile Kepaletswe said the tournament is a learning curve.

“We are preparing them for the future. I do not expect to put them under pressure.”

The Afro Basketball qualifiers end on Saturday when Botswana teams face Zambia.

The girls’ match will be played at 2pm, with the boys in action at 4pm.