Dar teams eye EA basketball title

By Burton Brown
Tanzania Union Basketball League Champions, Savio and the runners up JKT both look forward to the East and Central African Basketball Club Championship that will start this weekend at the National Indoor Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Both teams have been undergoing intensive training at their bases, Don Bosco Courts and Mgulani JKT in preparations for the biggest basketball event for East African basketball clubs.
“We have been training hard the past three weeks soon after the end of the Union Basketball League. All players are on a high spiritto win the regional title for the first time this year,” said Jije Makani, Savio’s captain.
Five countries have submitted their confirmation to participate in the Championship.
Apart from Savio and JKT, Vijana City Bulls preparing at Zanaki School courts, will participate. Tanzania will be represented by Don Bosco and Jeshi Stars on the women side.
Acting Secretary of Dar es Salaam Regional Basketball Association (DARBA) said the championship would take a week and finish on June 4.
Postal, Ulinzi and Strikers Stoners all from Kenya will take part in the Championship. From Uganda Falcon will compete and in the women’s category Lady Bucks will represent Uganda. Cobra and Bellair from Seychelles will also participate in the weeklong tournament.

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Tanga, Morogoro miss out on National Rally

By Express Reporter
The fifth edition of the National Rally Championship will now take place solely in Dar es Salaam after proposals from Morogoro and Tanga regions to host the second part of the race failed.
Morogoro and Tanga regions’ proposal did not win the preference of the organisers, Tanganyika Motor Sports Club (TMSC), who decided to stage the whole event in Dar es Salaam.
Chairman of TMSC, Satinder Birdi said the club planned to start the rally in Dar es Salaam and complete the first day event in either Tanga or Morogoro before the cars return to the city, repeating the route used in the first day.
He said lack of effective sponsorship to facilitate it using the said destinations forced them to stage the whole rally in Dar es Salaam.
The rally is set for June 18 and 19. The route will resemble that used in the Knight Support International Rally of Tanzania. A few sections will be added to make it more challenging.
The fifth rally of this year is expected to stage another hot duel between the Kirit Pandya and Pano Calavria who are now fighting fiercely for the top position in the seeding points.
With 12 points ahead of Pandya, Calavria will be trying to extend his lead.
Saleh Balhabou who won in Iringa, Omar Bakhressa, most unfortunate in Iringa, and Ahmed Huwel all spoke about their intention to win the event.
Young Dharam Pandya has said he would beat Sameer Nahdi Shanto in the coming rally despite driving an over 30-year old, Nissan PA.

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Yanga strikers most successful

By Burton Brown
Yanga has the best strikers in the country if one takes into account that the Dar football club have scored 18 times in the ongoing Vodacom Premier League so far.
Yanga have played ten matches so far Yanga. They should have played last Sunday against Prisons of Mbeya at Sokoine Memorial Stadium, but the match was postponed after their opponents had an accident while returning to Mbeya for the match.
Yanga is second in the league with 21 points after six victories, three draws and one loss. Leaders are Moro United.
Mtibwa Sugar of Turiani Morogoro and JKT Ruvu have each scored 16 goals while Simba have netted 12 so far.
Moro United have proved to possess the toughest defence, only allowing their opponents to strike three times in the ten matches the team has played so far.
Ashanti FC have conceded six goals in their nine matches followed by Yanga who have allowed seven goals behind their keeper.
Mji Mpwapwa from Dodoma, with the weakest defence in the league, have conceded 16 goals in nine matches.
In the match between Bandari and AFC Arusha, AFC failed to turn up. The match between Prisons and Transit Camp has been postponed until Saturday.

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Bakhressa, Shanto promise better performances

By Express Reporter
Dar es Salaam based rally drivers Omar Bakhressa and Sameer Nahdi Shanto are still hopeful to end among the best three despite the poor performances in their three past rallies.
Omar Bakhressa, most unfortunate after losing the lead in three rallies, said he hoped to gain enough points in the five remaining rallies which, if successful in all of them, would earn him 400 points in the AAT seeding.
Bakhressa said he expected to gain more points in the forthcoming Tanganyika Motors Rally in June, before going to Nairobi for the fifth edition of FIA African Rally Championship in July.
He said he also expected to be successful and clinch the top title following a victory in the Nanenane Rally in Arusha on August 6 and 7.
Bakhressa and Shanto said that after Arusha, their third mission would be the ninth edition of the National Rally Championship in Dar es Salaam.
“I confess, the opposition will be stiffer than any other time before, but that will not stop us from reclaiming our usual top positions,” they said.
Shanto has so far collected 50 points while Bakhressa has bagged 40 points, both drivers earning their points in NAS Tanga Rally of April this year.
FBME –backed driver, Pano Calavria is leading with 172 points followed by Kirit Pandya with 160 points while Saleh Balhabou is next with 112 and Dharam Pandya is fourth with 78 points.

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SAD to host IPC Women Leadership Summit

By Burton Brown
The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) has picked Tanzania’s Sports Association for Disabled (SAD) to host Africa’s IPC Women Leadership Summit.
The Secretary General of SAD, Iddi Kibwana said his office was informed recently by IPC that Tanzania had been picked for the venue of the summit for Anglophone countries.
According to Kibwana, the main agenda of the summit is to lay strategies that will enable the society to participate fully in developing sports for disabled women and girls in the society.
The summit is scheduled for November and will include all English speaking countries in Africa.
In another development, the International Tennis Development Official, Mark Bullock is expected to visit Dar es Salaam to assess the development of the sport among the disabled in the country.
Kibwana said he expected Bullock to arrive yesterday (Wednesday) for the seminar at Bahari Beach Hotel in which he would train disabled tennis players and coaches.

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TCA tournament standings

By Boogie Juma
Aga Khan Cricket team have stormed into the lead in the ongoing Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) tournament after winning all matches they have played so far.
The team opened their lucky spell with a convincing win over TCA Development team in the opening match of the league before beating Ekta A in their second match.
Union A are second placed with two points which they earned after beating Ekta. TCA are third and Ekta fourth without a point.
The official with TCA, Paul Manyanda told The Express that the league would resume this weekend when TCA Development team meet Union A at Annadil Burhan Oval. Manyanda said the league had stopped briefly due to the downpour that hit Dar es Salaam last week.
In another development, Emirates Airline has said its commitment to the development of cricket worldwide was the main reason why the firm decided to back the world cricket body (ICC) in its major events to be staged this year.
The Emirates spokesman said in Dar es Salaam this week that the airline will continue backing the sport for three years.

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Youth handball tourney postponed

By Boogie Juma
Tanzania Handball Association (TAHA) has pushed the National Youth Handball Club Championship to June 20. It was previously scheduled for June 6.
The Association’s Secretary General, Sudi Omari told The Express that the decision to postpone the Championship was to give the clubs enough time to prepare. “The clubs requested us to postpone the tournament and we agreed since the aim of the event is to spot untapped talents from the youth players,” he said.
According to Omari, Songea has once again been picked to host the Championship thus marking the second national handball competition to be staged in the town this year.
Only four teams have so far confirmed their participation. They are: Temeke Rangers and Dar Stars from Dar es Salaam, Ruvu JKT Stars from Coast Region and Mpwapwa Rangers from Dodoma.
Meanwhile, the intermediate and advanced workshops aimed at training coaches, referees and administrators is still on for June 6.
Omari said the course will take place in Iringa with participants expected to come from Dodoma, Iringa, Mbeya, Arusha, Mara, Mwanza, Morogoro, Ruvuma and Dar es Salaam.

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School Basketball League soon in Dar

By Burton Brown
The 2005 edition of the Kili Secondary School Basketball League (SBL) is scheduled to start early next month in Dar es Salaam.
Talking to The Express this week the acting Secretary General of Dar es Salaam Regional Basketball Association (DARBA), Mbaga Mwambona said the championship would take place at the National Indoor Stadium, also the main venue for all major basketball events in Tanzania.
Mwambona said the interschool competition would follow a league format, while in the later stages there would be quarter, semi and final stages.
12 teams are expected to lock horns in the forthcoming tournament, but the organizers would allow more teams to join the race if there are any interested.
Makongo and Jitegemee schools are the defending champions in the boys and girls categories respectively.

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Downpour mars golf tournaments

By Joyce Macha
The downpour that ravaged Dar es Salaam and other coastal areas over the weekend forced the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club to postpone two major tournaments planned for the weekend.
The club’s golf section had to cancel the Monthly Mug Golf tournament scheduled to tee off last Saturday, while the women golf section cancelled its Monday tournament scheduled for May 23.
Dar Gymkhana Golf Captain, Derek Arnott said the bad weather made the course unsuitable for play due to massive pools of water.
“They have started to clear some of the fairways to make the course passable, probably everything will be normal by next weekend,” said the club’s Caddy Master, Emanuel on Monday.
The postponed Monthly Mug Golf tournament would extend the colourful start of the high golfing season at the club, which normally begins at the end of May, shortly after the end of the wet season.
“It is hard to get the intended scores when the course is in this condition since the browns are not in its desired form. Some of us play it anyway since golf is our addiction,” said Roderick John, the assistant caddy master and one of the regular players.

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