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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) has written to the Government through the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) seeking permission to start training and competitions.

Zimbabwe are set to participate in the AfroBasket 2021 Qualifying Rounds to be played in Yaounde, Cameroon, from October 23-25.

The competition, dubbed Wild Card Tournament, will feature hosts, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Zimbabwe and South Sudan.

Buz president Joe Mujuru said they sent their request to the SRC, basing it on Covid-19 protocols drawn by the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) for the Yaounde tournament.

“We are hopeful that our application to travel for the AfroBasket competition in Cameroon will be successful.

“We’ve also applied to be given the green light to start training and get players match fit for the tournament,” said Mujuru.

The winner of the Wild Card Tournament group will participate in the second round of qualification for the 2021 AfroBasket in Group E with Egypt, Morocco and Uganda.

South Sudan had participated in the zonal preliminary tournament in Nairobi at the beginning of the year with Kenya advancing to the second round.

Zimbabwe, like South Sudan, had participated in a pre-qualifiers tournament that included Zambia and Madagascar.

Cape Verde, who played Algeria in the Zone 1 and 2 pre-qualifiers, will also have another chance to advance to the final qualifying round, while Chad will be playing for the first time. – @ZililoR