Rwanda basketball Federation (Ferwaba) has requested the Zone Five Club Basketball championships played in September after the Fiba Afro-basket championships set for August 20-31 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Zone Five club basketball championship is planned to be held in Bujumbura, Burundi from August 5-11.However, Rwanda Basketball Federation has requested the zonal committee in Kenya to shift the tournament to avoid hindering preparations for the national men’s team.The Federation Secretary General Richard Mutabazi told Times Sport recently, “We wrote a letter to the Zone committee requesting for the championship to be pushed to September,”“The Zone Five championship will destabilise the national team preparations ahead of the Afro-basket championship because there is a one-week gap between the Zone Five finals and the Afro-basket opening matches.”Holders Espoir and APR teams (men and women) are the teams that will represent Rwanda in the Zone Five games and most of their players feature in the national team.“We kept on insisting and reminding the committee to postpone the championship but they are yet to respond. Should the response be negative, we will have no choice but to field the clubs in the tournament and hope that national team players complete the tourney without any injuries which may hinder their participation in the Afro-basket tournament,” added Mutabazi.Zone five club championship is contested by winning clubs from basketball leagues of all the member countries, namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Egypt, Sudan and Southern Sudan.Rwandan reigning champions Espoir who won the local league title unbeaten are defending champions. They won the title last year in Kampala, Uganda.
