THE national basketball federation will launch the new 3 on 3 hoops tournament with 16 teams taking part according to the federation Technical Director Innocent Karuhije.The tournament will have different game rules to the ones used by ordinary basketball. The competition only requires using half of a basketball court, while each team is composed of 4 players (three starters and one substitute), and the team that pulls a margin of 21 points wins the match.Karuhije told Times Sport that the new competition is meant to popularize the game of basketball and also spread messages about prevention of malaria in Nyagatare which has been the most hit by the disease.“Basketball is the second most popular sport not only in the country but also in Africa and the world, and our target is to help attract people to the sport using such innovative competitions,” Karuhije said yesterday.The winners will walk away with Rwf 250,000, while the first runners-up will get Rwf 200,000 and 150,000 will be given to the third placed team.The competition and the just ended playoffs are being sponsored by Imbuto Foundation in their campaign to use sports in fighting malaria in the country.
