The men and women national basketball teams will be seeking to earn slots to the AfroCan and AfroBasket Championships when they take part in their respective Zone V qualifiers that tip -off at the Lugogo Indoor Arena today.
Only the winners of each category will take part in the continental championships with the Silverbacks due to face off with Rwanda, Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania in the men’s competition.
Betway Power trio Joseph Ikong, Syrus Kiviiri and Geoffrey Soro are part of the Silverbacks team that begins that task against Kenya in the last game of the day.
The visitors have familiar faces in their ranks including former Betway Power forward Michael Makiadi who will line-up alongside Brian Namake and Desmond Owili.
The biggest challenge is however expected to come from the Egyptians who were heads and shoulders above the rest when Uganda last hosted a regional championship, the Zone V qualifiers in 2014.
Three players, Jimmy Enabu, Josh Johnson and Ben Komakech remain from that team that will now includes the naturalized Brandon Davies and John Deng Geu for the George Galanopoulos coached side.
The five men’s teams will face each other in a round-robin format to determine the winner.
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The women’s AfroBasket qualifier meanwhile involves four teams with the Gazelles set to tussle it out with Egypt, Rwanda and Kenya
They will also play round robin games before facing off in semis depending on how they finish after the one leg.
Uganda will fancy their chances more in the women’s category with the Gazelles set to be led by Finnish based-Claire Lamunu, former BA London Lions forward Urysla Cotton Kelenza and the evergreen Flavia Oketcho.
The Fiba AfroCan will be held in Bamako, Mali from July 19-28, while the 2019 AfroBasket will be held in Senegal, August 9-18.
Wednesday, June 26
*
Women: Egypt Vs Kenya – 1PM
*Men: Egypt Vs Rwanda – 3PM
*Women: Uganda Vs Rwanda – 5PM
*Men: Uganda Vs Kenya – 7PM
Participating Teams
Men –
Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania
Women –
Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt
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