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Mzingaye Sibanda, Sports Reporter
THE Bulawayo National Youth Games team will today hold a basketball tournament at Milton High School as part of its fundraising activities.
Action is expected to start at eight in the morning.The team is fundraising money to buy tracksuits and kits in preparation for the forthcoming Youth Games set for the city next month.
Registration for participating teams is $1 per player, while tickets for the supporters will be sold at the gate at $1 for two.

Schools expected to take to the courts are Montrose, Milton, Founders, Nkulumane, and Ihlathi High Schools with seasoned clubs like Highlanders, Oilers, Lords and Southern Mavericks also coming on board.

It will be a rare basketball match as each team will have just three players.
One of the organisers Sincengile Mzemba appealed to all basketball lovers and families to come and support the initiative.

“We hope many people will come and support us, it will be a fun day for families and all basketball fans, I urge them to come in numbers,” said Mzemba.

She went on to say that teams’ preparations for Youth Games which will commerce on 17-25 August are on course.  Bulawayo teams are gunning for gold this year as they seek to capitalise on home advantage.

The Bulawayo girls’ teams were runners-up while the boys finished sixth in the last edition of the Games in Bindura.
The draw for the 11th  edition of the Youth Games was released early this week and Bulawayo girls team will fight it out in Pool A with Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and Manicaland while their male counterparts, also in Pool A will clash with Mashonaland West, Midlands, Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland North.

Meanwhile, a 12-member Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team that will participate in the World Cup qualifiers set for South Africa from early next month has been selected.
The qualifiers will run from 4-8 August.

The team will report for camp in Bulawayo next week before departure for South Africa on Friday, 2 August.
The Zimbabwe Women basketball team will be competing for the first time outside the country.
They will compete against the hosts South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Cameroon and Morocco.