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Sports Reporter
SENIOR men basketball team coach Emmanuel Mukandi settled for experience as he named his final team of 12 to take on Mozambique today and tomorrow at the City Sports Centre in Harare.

The two countries will be out to get a ticket to the Afrobasket Championships to be held in Congo Brazzaville, in August.

The winner between the two countries automatically qualifies for the championships while the losing side will take the second placed team from the other qualifier that is featuring Zambia, South Africa, Seychelles and Angola running from March 26 to April 3 in Lusaka.

The event in Lusaka had been slated for March 12 to 18 before it was moved.

Mukandi retained most of the players that were part of the team that went to the 2015 AfroBasket Championships in 2015 in Tunisia, when the senior men’s side made its debut appearance at the tournament.

Among the players are Tinotenda Robert Jnr Mugabe, Taurai Chitsinde, who is the captain, his brother Tawanda, Simbarashe Mungomezi, Tatenda Maturure, Neville Chivhanganye, and Brian Hore.

Mozambique come in as the favourites in this qualifier but Mukandi said they would want to defy odds and come out with a victory against their opponents.

“We are the underdogs and so we are looking forward to making history by beating them.

“The first game determines everything. If you win the first you can afford to lose the second game with less points,” said Mukandi.

Zimbabwe would want to have another dance at the continent’s flagship tournament after their debut appearance in 2015.

Zimbabwe and Mozambique were left to battle it out on their own after Botswana and Madagascar pulled out of the event. And the losing side from this encounter automatically goes for the play-offs.

However, Mukandi has made it clear he would want to have his charges securing their place from this encounter.

Basketball Union of Zimbabwe president, Addison Chiware, said the withdrawal of Botswana and Madagascar leaves the team with more chances of qualifying.

“It means we get higher chances of qualifying because we have (the) first chance then we have got also another chance in April (at the play-offs).

Automatically the number two in this encounter will go for play-offs. They will be played two weeks after the games in Lusaka from March 26 to April 3.

“We just hope to have a good night. We hope obviously for the best for Zimbabwe and also wish Mozambique the best,” said Chiware.

Mozambique is already in the country and it’s not going to be an easy assignment for the hosts considering that the visitors have in the past dominated the meetings between the two countries.

AfroBasket qualifiers Fixture

Today: Zimbabwe vs Mozambique (6pm).

Tomorrow: Mozambique vs Zimbabwe (3pm)