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| Sports |
| Sprite finals on Saturday |
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by
Leonard Sharra, 05 December 2003
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14:17:45
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It’s now getting hotter in the K1 million Sprite Basketball trophy national finals currently underway at the African Bible College (ABC) in the capital Lilongwe where the new Sprite champions will be crowned in the afternoon hours.
The finals, which have drawn top eight teams from the country’s three regions, tipped off on Friday afternoon with a total of six games lined up on the menu.
Eight teams namely Moyale Barracks, Red Bulls (from Mzuzu), Bricks, Crazy Warriors, Falcons (Blantyre), Mambas, ABC Lions and defending champions Mimbulu (Lilongwe) have made it to the national finals.
According to Basketball Association of Malawi general secretary James Gwaza and technical director Blair Phiri, the teams were divided into pools A and B with Bricks, Moyale, ABC Lions and the Mambas forming Pool A and the rest of the teams making the other pool.
As we went to press , Falcons were facing the Red Bulls on the ABC outside court with the Mzuzu-based soldiers battling it out against the ABC Lions on the indoor court. After these games, the Bricks were to line up against Mambas, a break away side from Mimbulu on the outside court with Mimbulu themselves slugging it out against Crazy Warriors on the magnificent indoor court.
Winners of the Mimbulu/Crazy Warriors clash were to meet the Bulls/Falcons on the outside court while Bricks/Mambas were expected to come face to face with ABC/Moyale.
The games continue this morning with the last preliminary matches which will be followed by semifinal clashes from around 11.00am. The finals will take place in the afternoon.
The preliminaries are being played on double knock out basis under which teams losing their first two matches were to bid farewell to the competition with those winning the first two assignments going straight to the semifinals.
Mimbulu (which means wild dogs) are the trophy’s defending champions having won the trophy in the previous two editions. Following the formation of a break away side Mambas, which has the bulk of players from the once mighty Mimbulu, the wild dogs may face difficulties to win the trophy for a third consecutive time.
However, it will be suicidal for the other teams to underrate the wild dogs who will be led by their star player Daud Suleyman and the experienced Madano ‘Dano’ Tepetheya. The team proved it has not lost its steam by winning the VK Jones trophy, which was a Sprite qualifier for the Central Region.
The hosting Lions can also use home ground advantage to detain the trophy but this will all depend on the level of the game displayed the three Blantyre based sides. Ranked as pre-tournament underdogs, the Mzuzu based outfits stand a chance of springing a surprise. |
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