Regional basketball tournament to start in Botswana

GABORONE, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Zone six (VI) basketball club championships preliminaries are set to begin in Botswana on Friday.

Clubs from six countries that make up the regional association have already arrived in Botswana ahead of the tournament where they will vie for top honors in the region.

The represented counties are Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Each country will be represented by champions and runners-up in their respective leagues in both men and women categories.

This makes a total of four teams per country and an overall 24 teams at the competition.

The tournament will be played in Lobatse, a historic town 60km south of the capital Gaborone. Lobatse is the oldest town in Botswana and the tournament coincided with its celebrations for 120 years of existence.

The local authorities have partnered with the tournament organizers to make it part of the celebrations.

Addressing the media on Thursday, Botswana Basketball Association (BBA) president Boineelo Hardy said they have prepared well for the tournament and she believed Botswana will deliver a successful event.

Hardy said Botswana is privileged to host a tournament of a high magnitude as it will help raise awareness of the game of basketball in the country and also improve the country's hosting capacity.

She said it presented an opportunity for Botswana teams to test their mettle against some of the strongest teams in the region.

Angola is one of the strongest basketball playing nations in the region and their teams are expected to give the rest of the competitors a tough time. The tournament comes to an end next Thursday.