By Charles Mutebi
POOR preparations are a cause to worry for national men’s basketball champions D’Mark Power ahead of next week’s FIBA Africa Zone Five Championship.
Power are arguably Uganda’s best hope in the men’s category of the event attracting the champions from the eight-country zone. But they have not been in competitive action since completing the local league first round on June 26.
It is a situation that has the club’s hierarchy, and particularly technical director Peter Mubanda, gravely anxious.
“We are seriously concerned,” said Mubanda. “We broke off the league a long time ago, and just when we were getting ready for this tournament (Norman) Blick went and got employed, Ben Komakech is busy with his studies so we are in a difficult position.”
Mubanda has been at the forefront of Power’s latest rise to the top of Ugandan basketball. After winning the 2008 Championship, the club spent a fortune on, among other signings, Norman and his brother Donald seeking to make a big splash in the Zone Five tournament. Mubanda says his players must be psychologically astute if the team is to avoid a flop.