Mikia Kalati
NEWLY-ELECTED Lesotho Basketball Association (LBA) president, Francis Koma, has pledged to ensure that the national team regularly participates in international competitions to facilitate its growth into a more formidable and competitive outfit.
Koma was on Sunday elected LBA president during the association’s elections that were held at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena in Maseru. He took over from Molupe Mothepu.
In an interview with the Lesotho Times shortly after his election, Koma said his target was to ensure that the sport of basketball was played in all the 10 districts of the country.
“We held the elections because some members were no long active and the ability of the executive committee to function properly was severely compromised,” Koma said.
“So our goal is to ensure that we have a committee that functions well and take the sport to a higher level.
“We also need to put more work on promoting the sport at high school level as part of developing young talent.”
He said it was also important to attract sponsors in order to help us grow the sport of basketball.
“I also want to see our team take part in international competitions because our national team has not been active for almost 10 years now.”
He however, said they would only come up with a programme of action after meeting with the old committee to ensure a smooth transition.
Outgoing LBA public relations officer, Ratšolo Molupe said it was time that they made way for people with new ideas as some of the old members had served the association for more than eight years.
“We realised that we have done our part and fatigue was also starting to catch up with us.
“All that was left was the passion for the sport as some of the members had already resigned due to different commitments.
“We therefore believe that new energy and new ideas will bring positive changes to our association because we also played our part during our time in office,” he said.
Ratšolo however pledged that they would always be available to support the new committee.
“We are always available and we will ensure that we have a smooth transition and support the new committee to settle in well.
“I also need to thank the basketball family for the support they gave us during our tenure.
“We are also grateful for the support from the media especially as I always interacted with them,” he said.
