New basketball court opens in Zingwangwa

Basketball Association of Malawi (Basmal) has opened the newly-built basketball court at Zingwangwa Youth Centre (ZYC) in Blantyre as a way of fulfilling their campaign of making the game popular in communities.

Basmal president Hamlet Kamtengeni said  on Sunday that the facility will also help to reduce congestion at the Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC), where their calendar is disturbed whenever the venue hosts other functions.

The new court, which hosted a match between Crazy Warriors and Jacaranda Eagles on the day, was constructed with part of the K36.6 million funding from United States of America’s (USA) Dawn Staley Initiative. The remaining sum is expected to be used for a similar initiative at Kamuzu Institute for Sports (KIS) in Lilongwe.

Staley, who is a celebrated former women basketball player, decided to fund the project following her visit to the country some months ago.

“She noted the inadequacy of basketball facilities and she decided to help. We are very grateful to her for the assistance, which will go a long way in improving and popularising the game in communities,” Kamtengeni said.

Southern Zone Basketball League (Sozobal) chairperson Stabene Malange-Majamanda expressed delight at the project saying it has blended well with their effort to take the sport into communities.

“This is a welcomed development which augers well with our mission to refurbish some of the neglected basketball facilities in our fold such as those at Chichiri and Blantyre secondary schools as well as in Bangwe Township. It is through community basketball that the sport flourished in the USA, the world’s basketball powerhouse,” she said. n