FIBA 3x3 kicks off without BBA endorsement

Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday April 4, 2017 17:19

The tournament, which has attracted 73 teams from different age groups will run at the Stanbic Bank Piazza until April 23.

There is no prize money for winners, but the winning team in the men’s open will participate at the African Championships in Ivory Coast in June this year.

Hoop City president, Batho Batho Moeketsi admitted that the BBA did not endorse this year’s tournament despite the relationship they had established last year.

“It’s not like the association refused to endorse the tournament, we have to fix a few loose ends then they can come on board,” he said.

The loose ends include sorting out the financial issue, which saw match officials unpaid. “Once all the loose ends are sorted we can work on having the BBA on board,” he said.

BBA public relations officer, Thabang Maramanyane said the tournament was not endorsed as there are still issues to be sorted from the previous edition. 

“Hopefully we will see how it ends,” said Maramanyane. BBA has a new committee that was elected into office late last year and inherited a number of pressing issues.

The tournament clashes with the national league, which provides a dilemma for players registered for both competitions.  “The clash will not be a challenge to us.

It’s actually interesting that we have 73 teams participating comparing to last year’s 66 teams that had registered. The other thing is that this tournament is open for everyone.

It is not only players in the BBA league, so we are not worried that much. As for match officials, we have been mentoring young officials that will be take charge of the games,” said Moeketsi.

FIBA accredited match official Mothusi Phokoje who is part of Hoop City handled a number of matches. 

Moeketsi said the main objective of the tournament is to develop young players, who are mostly ignored only to be given attention at a late stage.

The tournament has teams from different age groups starting from Under-13, 15, 18 and is open for both genders.