The Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA) and officials from FIBA have on Thursday, September 9th, launched the 2019 FIBA 3X3 Africa cup Basketball tournament.
The tournament which is expected to attract the continent’s best will run from November 7th to 10 in Kampala, Uganda.
FUBA president Nasser Sserunjogi was joined by FIBA Sports supervisor Guillaume Julien and Alexis Rambur, the event supervisor at the launch held at Uganda Olympic Committee offices in Lugogo.
Burundi, Kenya, Djibouti, Madagascar, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Togo, Niger, Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Mauritius, Mali will all be on Ugandan soil to challenge the hosts.
Each of these nations is expected to have four teams at the event for the U18 and the senior sides.
“I believe this is an exciting opportunity for us as a country to take the lead in 3X3 development,” Uganda 3×3 coordinator Hamza Nyambogo said at the launch.
“In the end we can further elevate our National federation ranking.
“It is also a unique opportunity to show case to our basketball fans what 3X3 is all about and the potential it has.” He added.
FIBA’s Alexis Rambur lauded Uganda for the efforts put in to have the event held in Kampala.
“We thank FUBA for their maximum cooperation. They have been very supportive and it’s a great mark of confidence. We have been here for some days and everything has been very positive. The local organizing committee is doing a great job ahead of the event.” Rambur told the press.
3×3 basketball has been on the rise in the last few years and has now been included as one of the activities for the Olympics.
It will feature for the first time in the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
Team Uganda has been actively involved in preparations ahead of the competition and the U23 (Women) team just returned from the World Cup in China.
Uganda will now play at the World Beach Games that are organized under the auspices of the ANOC (Association Of National Olympic Committees). The games will be in Qatar starting from October 12th-16th.
The Silverbacks team will comprise of City Oilers’ small forward Jonathan Egau, KIU Titans’ Henry Okoth and UCU Canons’ Fayed Baale.
Ritah Imanishimwe, Sarah Ageno, Melissa Akullu
and Abey Priscilla will take the lessons learnt from the World Cup and represent the country in the ladies’ category.
