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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
BASKETBALL officials from Bulawayo with the help of Hillside Teachers’ College physical education students yesterday began laying the state-of-the-art wooden court as the week-long Afro-Basketball and All-Africa qualifiers draws near.The qualifiers start on Saturday at the ZITF and end on February 28 and the countries participating are Botswana, South Africa, Seychelles, Angola and Zimbabwe.

Basketball Union of Zimbabwe as the hosts are expected to hand over the match venue and other facilities to International Basketball Federation (Fiba) on Friday.

“We’re happy with the support that we’ve received from the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture, Hillside Teachers’ College and the Bulawayo community as a whole. Everybody is working hard to make sure that we stage a memorable tournament. As it is we’re working round the clock to make sure that we finish laying the wooden court and terraces by Thursday,” said Joe Mujuru, Buz secretary-general.

He said they needed about 14 hours   to lay the floor and two days to erect   terraces.

Meanwhile, tickets for the tournament are pegged at $2 and this will guarantee one to watch three matches a day.

Teams will play each other twice. The team that finishes with most points will proceed to the All-Africa Games set for Congo-Brazzaville later this year.

The Angola men’s team has already qualified for the Afro-basketball Championships which will be co-hosted  by Tunisia and Cameroon which means that Zimbabwe, Seychelles, Botswana and South Africa will battle for a place in the finals.

Mujuru said they have been informed  that Seychelles are in France preparing  for the qualifiers and are expected in Zimbabwe on Friday alongside Botswana and Angola.

South Africa are flying straight to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport today.