KTA Basketball Team
Mikia Kalati
LOCAL basketball sides, Bokamoso South and Khubetsoana All Stars (KTA) leave will today for a three day tournament in Manzini, Swaziland.
Lesotho Basketball Association public relations officer, Ratšolo Molupe said the competition, which is open for female and male teams, begins tomorrow until Sunday.
“Unfortunately for this year’s tournament we are going with only three teams that managed to register for the competition,” Molupe said.
“Bokamoso will compete in the female and male categories while KTA failed to register their ladies team because they were late.
That is sad because both their teams did very well in the same tournament last year.”
Molupe said they expected good performances from both sides, adding Bokamoso would surprise their regional counterparts having dominated the local scene and winning almost every trophy on offer in 2017.
Bokamoso South were crowned the 2016/17 National Basketball League champions in May to complete a memorable year in which they also won the Sprite Memorial Independence Tournament and Sprite Summer Slam Charity Tournament titles.
“These teams give us hope because Bokamoso are the champions of our league while KTA have done very well in this competition over the last five years.
“I think Bokamoso will be the surprise package given that they are going there on the back of a successful domestic season.”
He said the tournament had helped local players get the much-needed international exposure, especially KTA whose male and female teams reached the quarterfinals last year.
“The exposure has helped improve the competition in domestic league,” he said.
The tournament will also feature teams from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
