TANZANIA : Teams blast Kili awards

Vijana City Bulls and Savio have come forward to blame organisers of the Regional Basketball Association (RBA) for delaying prizes.

Officials of both teams said the delay affected them adversely as they failed to feature in the recently ended National Basketball League (NBL).

Failure to compete in the NBL excluded them automatically from featuring in the forthcoming Union Basketball League.

Michael Mwita, who plays for Savio, said his club depended on the RBA cash prizes to travel to Mwanza for the NBL.
"Our budget was limited, so we relied on the cash prizes to cater for transport and our upkeep in Mwanza," Mwita said.

Vijana's head coach Bahati Mgunda also said the delay ruined their ambition to clinch the national league title.
He said they needed Sh3 million only to travel to the lake region, but they failed to raise it.
Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD) handed over the cash prizes on Monday, which is exactly three months since the league reached its climax.

The winners JKT received Sh3.5 million while runners up Vijana City Bulls got Sh2 million and Savio, who finished third earned Sh1 million.
JKT Ladies received Sh2 million as champions, the runners DB Lady Lioness walked away with Sh1 million and Sh500,000 went to Jeshi Stars.