Sande Bashaija
Wandegeya
Third place
Div 1: Falcons 74-83 KIU
Wom: Canons 61-50 Rangers
Div 2: Rhino 104 -82 Heaters
Div 3: Kings 89-47 TLC
The drama involving Kampala City Council (KCC) Lions and Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono Canons is not about to end. Local basketball governing body, Fuba, is now arranging a best-of- three play-off series to decide which of the two teams is relegated to Second Division. The second round rescheduled fixture for both teams couldn’t be played after Canons, misinformed by a Fuba technical committee member, reported late to the venue and KCC earned points by forfeiture.
The points would have secured KCC a topflight slot next season and condemned UCU to the lower tier but the latter appealed and Fuba consented to a replay.
KCC Lions, however, rejected the replay arguing that they had earned the points in accordance to Fuba rules. Whereas National Council of Sports (NCS) intervened in the matter as an arbitrator and advised that both teams be kept in the topflight, Fuba is keen to drop one of them. “We are soon fixing the dates for the series,” Fuba assistant general secretary Joseph Manano explained at the weekend. “If one of the teams doesn’t show up, that will be their mistake,” he added. The final play-off series are ongoing and it remains to be seen how Fuba adjusts the fixtures to accommodated KCC-UCU.
Unwilling
However, KCC Lions are not willing to take part in any rematch. “We won our game and the score sheet is in the file,” KCC official Dennis Karugaba revealed. “If they insist on a replay, we are reporting them to Fiba (world governing body) or take the matter to court.” Elsewhere, men’s record champions Falcons failed in their quest to finish the season with some silverware as they slumped to a 74-83 defeat at the hands of KIU in the third-place play-off at YMCA on Saturday.