Uganda has been confirmed as the host for the upcoming 2022 FIBA Zone Five U18 Afrobasket Preliminaries for both Boys and Girls.
This was revealed in a letter from FIBA Africa Zone V Secretary General Vitalis Gode to FUBA President Nasser Sserunjogi dated April 5 2022, seen by this website.
“Following your application, Zone V leadership has supported and recommends your bid to host the preliminaries of the 2022 Afrobasket U18 for boys and girls,” the letter reads in part.
“This recommendation is further based on financial obligation signed and stipulated Fiba
Africa organization conditions.”
The proposed dates for the competition in Kampala are 13th to 18th June 2022.
Sserunjogi, in an exclusive interview with The-SportsNation, says that Uganda is privileged to host the tournament.
“It is always good for us as a country to host such continental tournaments. It gives us a lot of mileage as a country. It is an opportunity for our youngsters to play in front of the home crowd. Having home court advantage is also good for our qualification pathway. It is also an inspiration for the young ones to follow the games and want to play at the same level,” he stated.
Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Tanzania are the countries expected to come to Kampala for the tournament.
The teams will be fighting for the available slots to the FIBA U18 African Championships where Uganda has qualified twice in 2016 and 2018.
Sserunjogi says that FUBA has the ability to host a good tournament if well facilitated.
“In terms hosting, of course sometimes we have struggled financially but if well facilitated we can have a good tournament. We have hosted tournaments here before and trust me in the region we are regarded as the best host for these tournaments.
“The good thing is that we have started early enough, we shall mainly engage the corporate partners to come on board and we are confident that we shall pull it off.”
The Junior Silverbacks and Junior Gazelles will seek to benefit from home court advantage to progress to the finals.
Sserunjogi also torched into preparations for Uganda’s teams: “We are planning a two weeks residential camp this holiday at Watoto School for both boys and girls. After that we shall be doing weekend programs, then another One week residential camp before the games. The challenge is that these are kids in school but we shall find away.”
