President Paul Kagame has lauded the National Basketball Association (NBA) and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) for initiating the Basketball Africa League (BAL), whose inaugural regular season kicks off in March 2020. The President lauded the partnership on Thursday night as he presided over the launch of the tournament’s official logo at Kigali Arena. “We are happy as Rwanda to be in partnership with this effort, NBA and FIBA coming together with partnership across Africa starting here in Rwanda,” Kagame said as he addressed thousands of basketball fans who attended a game between Rwandan champions Patriots and GNBC of Madagascar. The logo, much similar to the NBA logo, also has in a silhouette of a basketball player. Kagame was joined by Amadou Gallo Fall, the President of NB Africa, FIBA Africa President Anibal Manave, FIBA Africa Executive Director Alphonse Bile as well as South Sudanese NBA legend Luol Deng. After launching the logo, the President, NBA and FIBA officials as well as other senior government officials stayed on to watch the game, which ended around 10:30 pm. On a night of thrills and shocks, with a captivating atmosphere inside the arena, Patriots fought back to overcome GNBC 94-88 in overtime as they reached the semi-finals of the BAL final round qualifiers – East Division – as Pool A leaders with a maximum six points. Rwanda is hosting the week-long qualifiers competition at Kigali Arena since Tuesday. About BAL Basketball Africa League is the biggest club championship on the continent. The finals tournament will consist of twelve teams divided into two conferences, with the top three in each conference advancing to the ‘Super 6’ round. In the Super 6, all teams will face each other in a round-robin format to determine the four teams that qualify for the final four. The final four, which will be held in Rwanda, will be a single-elimination tournament to determine the champions of the maiden BAL season. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
