Friday

Men

Group A Patriots Vs Shoot 4 starts 5pm UGB Vs IPRC-Musanze 6pm

Group B REG Vs Rusizi BBC 5pm APR Vs 30 Plus 7pm IPRC-Huye Vs Espoir 7pm

The 2021 National Basketball League is set to get underway on Friday, June 4 at Amahoro Indoor Stadium, after a delay of almost 5 months.

Usually, the league starts at the beginning of the year, but it was not possible this time around, due to inconveniences caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a way of catching up with the time lost due to the delays, the league will be played in a tournament-like format, with the 14 teams that make up the national basketball league having been placed in two groups, each comprising seven teams.

The teams pooled in the same group will play against each other, and the top four in each group will advance to the quarter-finals.

After the quarters, there will be semi-finals and finals.

On Friday, game action will tipoff with a Group A encounter between defending champions Patriots Basketball Club and Shoot 4, at 5pm.

Then, at 6 PM, UGB will play against IPRC-Musanze (also Group A); while REG will entertain Rusizi in Group B at 5pm.

Every team must test for Covid-19 before every match until the end of the season.

Speaking to Times Sport, Aristide Mugabe, Patriots captain said the team will be looking to retain the league title and that there is a lot of confidence after their good performances in the BAL tourney.

"Our target is to lead our group and continue to make an effort to retain the national Basketball League. We have an ambition to represent our country in the second edition of the BAL next year,” he said.

In the women’s category, still on Friday, UR Huye will be up against IPRC-Huye at the University of Rwanda court.