|
The South Africa Under-18 basketball team are anxiously waiting to see who their opponents will be when they play their opening pool match of the 2006 African Junior Championships on Friday evening, immediately after the official opening ceremony at the Indoor Sports Centre at the Durban University of Technology.
The ceremony, which will be attended by the KwaZulu-Natal Sport and Recreation MEC Amichand Rajbansi, starts at 5.30pm.
The championships, which are held every four years, were last held in Cairo in 2002 when Nigeria became the champions after their defeat of Angola.
Both the Nigeria and Angola teams are expected to arrive in Durban on Wednesday, along with the teams of nine other African nations, with host nation South Africa bringing the total to 12 teams.
| 'If we achieve this target it will be a great achievement' |
The South Africa squad of 12 players were put through their paces by chief coach Craig Daniels, of the Western Cape, at Durban High School's outdoor courts on Tuesday.
Of these players, six are from KwaZulu-Natal, four being pupils of Durban High School - Nkululeko Gumede, Cellumusa Khumalo, Sandiso Manquele and Sakhile Sithole - while Byron Egon is from Maritzburg College and Michael Acutt is a former DHS pupil who has won a scholarship to study in the United States.
Spokesperson Cyril Zondi said the tournament in general and the South Africa squad in particular had received generous support from the eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Sport and Recreation and Engen.
Assistant coach, DHS schoolteacher Myles Delport, said the team was aiming to reach the semifinals, after finishing 11th in Cairo in 2002 - between Mali and last-placed Madagascar.
Delport said: "If we achieve this target it will be a great achievement.
"We are confident of our chances of winning against countries like Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia, and are hoping that when the draw is made for the pool matches we will have at least two of these countries in our pool."
Delport said that other countries, such as Burkina-Faso, Guinea-Conakry and Mali, were unknown quantities but that Nigeria, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali were highly rated.
As championship hosts, South Africa did not have to qualify, while Angola, Mozambique and Zambia have all qualified from zone 6.
The 12 teams will be in two pools of six teams each for the first round, which starts at the Durban University of Technology at 8am on Friday.
The first (round-robin) phase will be completed on August 2, with the top four teams in each pool to play in the knock-out phase on August 3.
The seeding phase begins on August 4, with the semifinals on August 5 and the final on August 6.
- This article was originally published on page 27 of The Mercury on July 26, 2006
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
