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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
LAKERS Foundation Basketball Tournament founder, Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, has hailed the growth of the tournament that has seen an increase in the number of participating teams at this year’s edition.

Lakers Foundation was founded in 2009 with the aim of developing the girl child’s potential through basketball. From that period the tournament has grown tremendously.

The sixth edition of the annual Lakers Foundation Basketball Tournament has attracted double the participating teams from last year.

Over 50 teams registered for this year’s edition compared to 30 in the previous edition.

Games in the ongoing tournament are being played at Eveline High School and Khanyisile Sports Centre with the finals set for this afternoon at both venues.

The basketball fiesta has managed to attract top teams from outside the country making it one of the top competitions in the country.

“The competition is now a big event and we are proud to have come this far. The goal is to see the competition continue to grow to even greater heights,” said Ndlovu.

The tournament cuts across different categories that include schools and professional clubs competition.

In the clubs category, 16 male and 12 female clubs have registered to take part in the prestigious tourney which has some International flavour to it.

Zambia’s Unza Pacers and Unza Honiez, who are the competition’s defending champions, will be hoping to defend their titles in the men and women categories respectively.

Top clubs in the Bulawayo Basketball League (BBL) such as Southern Mavericks, Lakers and Oilers will be hoping to dethrone the visiting champions.

The juniors’ section is made up of 28 Under-13 primary schools from Matabeleland South and Bulawayo.

Mgoqo Primary School from Bulawayo are the defending champions for the girls while Mtshane Primary School are the boys’ champions.

This year’s edition saw the introduction of the Under-16 category that will see 25 high school teams from all over Zimbabwe taking part in both boys and girls cartegories.

Some of the participating schools in the development competition are Sigombe, Mgoqo, Mtshane, Inkanyezi, Emakhandeni, Mpumelelo, Insukamini, Zulukandaba and Hyde Park.