22 Oct 2017

Zone VI preliminaries championships games may be in premature stage with only a handful of games played so far, but it is already evident that the local teams are already finding the going tough as victories in the court are hard to come by.

With on five games involving the local teams played as of Saturday, only Police V and Dolphins have registered a win and ironically, victory for both teams came against fellow countrymen.

In the opening game of championships played at Lobatse Sports Complex on October 20, Police V saw off BDF V with a 61- 52 score line in the ladies side, while the rivalry was renewed in the men’s game that saw Dolphins sweating it off against bitter rivals Troopers with Dolphins winning the tie 77-60.

There is a thin line that separates Dolphins and Troopers as both teams have exchanged the championships within themselves in recent years with Dolphins being the reigning league  champions, while Troopers are the current play-offs champions.

With all the accolades that the local teams participating at the Zone VI have under their belts, it is disappointing to note that the same cannot be said about them at the ongoing games as they have been reduced to mere push overs by their Southern African counterparts.

It is however worth highlighting that even though basketball is a game played on five on five principle, the odds are slightly against the local teams as they only play on part time basis compared to their counterparts who are on a professional set-up with huge monetary incentives invested in the game in their respective leagues.

The professionalism and physic supremacy that other teams, particularly from Angola possess seems to be too much for the local teams to handle as they continued to their pedigree against the local teams on Saturday when Botswana’s Dolphins lost to Angola’s Libolo Benfica.

 With five Olympians who have represented Angola at the Rio Olympics on the Libolo line up, the writing was on the wall that the Dolphins would have a mammoth task ahead of them.

However, lead by the country’s upcoming guard Kesaobaka Ndawanyana, the local champions put up a brave fight in the first quarter converting seven baskets that gave the much more experienced Angolans, something to pounder on.

Libolo however had a commanding leading in all quarters and led all the way to the final buzzer, winning the game with a comfortable 124-48 score line.

In other games played on Saturday, local boys Troopers lost 47-90 to Zimbabwe’s Harare City Hornets, while Police V also suffered another 32-123 defeat to Angola’s Primero Agosto, BDF V lost to Ferroviario Maputo of Mozambique. ENDS