Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) has vowed to put more emphasis on Women Basketball than ever before.
FUBA President Nasser Sserunjogi said that they have realized that the Women have a comparative advantage over the Men’s teams on the Continent.
The remarks come on the back of the Gazelles (Women’s National Basketball team) success at the 2023 FIBA Women Afrobasket) where they finished seventh, their best placement ever.
The change in mind comes two years when FUBA was hugely criticized for ignoring the Women’s game – then, cash-strapped FUBA opted to take Silverbacks to Morocco for Afrobasket Qualifiers, then withdrawing the Gazelles from the 2021 Afrobasket in Rwanda.
“I have confidence that our major success in Basketball will come from the Gazelles – either the Junior Gazeless U16, U18 or the senior team because there is a lot of potential we have in Women Basketball that we need to tap into and we need to support and we must be deliberate, we must be intentional, in doing this,” said Nasser Sserunjogi.
“In 2021 we missed to compete at the Women Afrobasket, and it was a bitter taste as the Girls said we were just focussing on the Silverbacks.
“I want to assure you that our strategy is now changing and more focus is going to be put on Girls Basketball because we believe that’s where we can make a lot of noise on the Continent. Be rest assured that we shall do all is possible and in our means to support Girls Basketball in this Country.”
Gazelles Afrobasket Vision 2025
FUBA has launched the Gazelles Afrobasket Vision 2025, targeted at focusing on not only qualifying the team to 2025 Afrobasket, but also see the side go an extra mile.
Uganda finished in seventh place, their most successful campaign on their third attempt.
In 1997 Afrobasket in Kenya, Uganda lost all their four games terribly on their debut – Kenya (117-36), Mali (140-31), Senegal (150-45) and Cameroon (122-57) to finish 9th.
In 2015, Uganda beat South Africa 55-43 in their only group win before overcoming Algeria 75-73 in the classification to finish 10th.
“Allow me to thank the players and whole team that represented Uganda at Women Afrobasket. They put their bodies on the line and were very disciplined, we didn’t have any issues in camp and we thank them for doing a tremendous job for putting us where we managed to reach,” Sserunjogi stated.
“We want to be a permanent member at every Afrobasket, next edition is 2025, we believe that we shall be a part of that journey as well. We want to launch our journey for the campaign because the planning starts now.
“And we have a code name Gazelles Afrobasket Vision 2025. This goes out to all the Players that the planning and coordination starts now. We already had a discussion with the Head coach who will be in touch with all the players, give them a plan, and road map for us to prepare for 2025. Bear in mind that we need to start these preps in time.
“Our target is to make the final four, we made the Quarterfinals and we need to move a step higher and make the final four. It comes with benefits – The final four automatically qualify for the next edition of Afrobasket meaning you don’t go through the Qualifiers where anything can happen.”
FUBA is organizing a Corporate Dinner with the top companies, and Sserunjogi said that this will help to garner support from the Corporate World.
He explained: “We want to use this opportunity and leverage the mileage we have got from this campaign.”
