By Abdirisak Itaqile
Dar Es Salaam, (SLPOST) -Members of Hargeisa city basketball team has arrived in Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam to take part the 16th East and Central Africa Inter Cities Basketball Championship which is set to take place from 6th May to 11 May 2014 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Hargeisa city basketball team will contest the East and Central Africa Inter Cities Basketball Championship for the second time after taking part the 14th version of the tournament in Kampala, Uganda two years ago.
During their send off at Hargeisa’s Egal international airport yesterday, Hargeisa city mayor Abdirahman Soltelco and sports Minister Ali Said Raygal strongly advised the members of team to uphold discipline within their ranks as their conduct will reflect the image of the country.
Meanwhile, the president of Inter cities Basketball tournament committee, Simon Msoffe has confirmed the arrival of Hargeisa city basketball team in Dar es Salaam while speaking to the ‘Sunday News’. “The cities which are scheduled to arrive on Sunday (today) ready for the event are Hargeisa, Garowe and Uganda’s Kampala.
The team pulled out of last year’s East and Central Africa Inter-cities basketball championship due to financial constraints.
The chairman of Somaliland’s National Basketball Federation, Mohamoud Hassan Abdilahi (Godah) while speaking toSomaliland Monitor prior their departure has stated that the team’s past experience of the tournament and two months training will help the team reach the final stages of the tournament.
The event which has attracted cities of Hargeisa from Somaliland, Nairobi, Mombasa from Kenya, Kampala (Uganda), Juba and Citizen (South Sudan), Mogadishu and Garowe from Somalia, Addis Abba (Ethiopia), Cairo (Egypt), Tanga and the host city Dar es Salaam will miss the men’s category defending champions Uganda’s Mukono who will has failed to defend their title due to financial constraint.
Somalilandmonitor.com