The executive committee of Rwanda basketball federation (Ferwaba) and representatives of member clubs are due to meet via video conference on Saturday, September 12, to discuss setting a new date of resumption of the national league. Ferwaba had, in May, tentatively set September4 as the day the BK Basketball National League season would resume. However, the resumption was delayed as the country was dealing with an upsurge in new Covid-19 cases. In an interview with Times Sport on Tuesday, Ferwaba president Désiré Mugwiza confirmed that the new starting date will be decided on Saturday. “We are going to sit and deliberate on the new starting date on Saturday,” he said, noting that if the new date is agreed upon by all parties, Ferwaba – in close collaboration with the Ministries of Sports and Health – will communicate a detailed timeline and guidelines for safe resumption of group training and competitive action. The 2019/20 basketball league was suspended in March along with all sporting activities in the country. Rwanda Energy Group topped the table with 23 points, one ahead of two-time reigning champions Patriots. In a separate interview, Patriots basketball club’s president Brian Kirungi said that in his ‘own opinion’, the regular season “should just end where it is today and the top four teams immediately proceed to the playoffs games.” Patriots, who won three league titles in the last four seasons, will represent the country in the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL) later this year. Meanwhile, this publication understands that during a meeting on Monday, September 7, the Ministry of Sports tasked sports federations to come up with proposals on how competitions will be managed after full resumption. The proposals are expected to entail details like how players will access Covid-19 tests and adequate sanitization of sports venues.
