Nine countries will not take part in the Zone V Basketball championship which also acts as a qualifier for the Fiba Afrobasket U-16 tournament according to Rwanda Basketball Federation officials.

Only Eritrea has confirmed to take part in the tourney while Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda wrote to the Basketball Federation saying that they don’t have U-16 teams.

The U-16 Zone V tournament runs from May 26-27 with the National U-16 boys’ team playing 2 games against Eritrea in which the winner will qualify for the Fiba Afro basketball U-16 tournament.

Richard Mutabazi, the Secretary General of the Rwanda Basketball Federation said the U-16 girls’ team has already qualified for the tourney because all the invited teams pulled out of the tournament.

The Fiba Afrobasket U-16 girls’ tournament is slated for July 16-24 in Madagascar while the boys’ edition will take place in Mali in July.

Meanwhile Didier Shema Maboko, the National Basketball Federation Technical director and referee has been selected among FIBA active referees to participate in the NBA Summer Camp in Las Vegas - USA from 6 - 12 July.

He will be representing Africa with another referee from Cameroun. This Camp is organized by NBA during the summer where NBA players alongside NBA coaches meet and share Basketball skills and some recruit new players.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw