MARINE basketball club head coach Prospere Mihigo hopes to field a strong side in the forthcoming Zone 5 Club Championships in Kampala, Uganda.

Although three of his star players; Aboubacar Barame, Serge Kabangu and Elibo Ilunga Muhire have hardly trained with the squad after being called up to the national team, the former APR assistant coach is optimistic that the players will be available for selection.

The national team is preparing for next month’s coveted Fiba-Afrobasket competition in Libya.

However, Mihigo told Times Sport that negotiations between the club and the national basketball federation are on-going to resolve the issue.

"We are locked in talks with the federation but I have no doubt that they will join us because we need a strong side to successfully challenge for the Zone 5 title,” he said.

Marine are scheduled to play a friendly match with the national team as part of their build-up to the Kampala event which also counts as a qualification ground for the Fiba-Africa club championships which will be staged in Kigali later this year.

Marine (men) and APR (women) will be Rwanda’s flag bearers in Kampala.

Uganda will field six teams; Falcons, Warriors and D Mark in the men’s category and KCC, UCU and Lady Canons in the women fray.

Kenya will be represented by national champions Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and KPA in the men category while Zone 5 defending champions KPA, Kenya national queens and Eagle Wing carry Kenya’s hopes in the women category.

Sudan, making a debut appearance in the event will field Bilpam Warriors while Somalia will have Heagem men and women teams to carry their flag.

Tanzania will field two sides; Jeshi Stars (women) and former national champions ABC. Zone five champions APR will not take part because they have a direct ticket to the FIBA African championship as host club.

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