Sande Bashaija
After successfully hosting the Africa Zone 5 Sprite Club Championship, Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) officials are dreaming big. The federation plans to file a bid to host next year’s Africa Nations Championship.
“We are preparing a bid but it will all depend on where Fiba (the world basketball governing body) wants to have the event,” Fuba general secretary Tom Ocamringa said yesterday. “I know we have the capacity to host the men or women’s tournament.” To match the demands of the game’s soaring popularity, Fuba also intends to construct a 10,000-stadium in Kampala.
“Over 2,000 people attended the Africa Zone 5 Sprite Championship finals at YMCA. It was overwhelming,” Fuba vice-president Bob Buga said on Monday.
Buga headed the Zone 5 tournament Local Organising Committee (LOC) and was impressed with the passion Ugandans exhibited throughout the seven days of action. “Originally, we had a plan of constructing a 5,000-seater stadium but after the Zone 5 we realised it would be too small,” he revealed during a press briefing at Serena Hotel where Coca-Cola under their sprite brand, released a master plan to develop the game in Uganda.
With Lugogo, the only indoor stadium in Uganda under renovation, there were concerns that Uganda would not host a successful tournament. But after the finals on Sunday the general consensus was that the LOC had passed the test with flying colours. “Lack of an indoor venue was a very big challenge for us.
But thank God we finished the tournament successfully,” Buga noted. Fuba is now working hand-in-hand with Kampala City Council (KCC) to secure a plot in the city where they can set up a basketball home.
“We have a good working relationship with KCC and there is no doubt they will come in handy for this project to be a success,” he noted.