Your Weekly Dose of FIBA Africa Zone 6 News: With the leagues in South Africa on hold, we touched base with Dylan Lele of Bravehearts and Lebesa Selepe of MBB, who are preparing for the Road To BAL 2025's Elite 16 East Division, for a chance to qualify for the 2025 Basketball Africa League.
Last Updated on
November 12, 2024
Malawian league champions Bravehearts faced several red tape issues in Harare in preparation for last season's Road to BAL tournament when their import players were prevented from playing due to an administrative oversight by the federation and the club's front office. Despite this setback, the men from Lilongwe secured three wins and qualified in second place for the Elite 16. They continue with rigorous preparations ahead of the tournament.
Their Cameroonian guard, Dylan Lele, noted the team's challenges in preparing adequately, as FIBA has yet to announce the dates or location for the East Division. This delay has also had a knock-on effect on their domestic league, which has yet to start; consequently, their import players are not yet in Lilongwe. However, the team maintains regular communication with the coach to ensure that preparations progress as planned. Dylan Lele commented:
"It is difficult to really prepare like we want to because we do not know when or where we are playing. We should also be playing some games but it is difficult because it’s the off-season but we are all staying ready so we don’t have to get ready."
This weekend, they played a friendly against CDHI from Blantyre, winning comfortably with a score of 70-28. However, they’ll need tougher competition ahead of the tournament to sharpen their edge and reach peak form.
In South Africa, the MBB Blue Soldiers are also training intensively. Like many countries in the region, they currently lack an active national or provincial league.
Rumours suggest they might only participate for the experience, as they hold an automatic qualification for the 2025 Basketball Africa League. This Elite 16 round, however, offers them a valuable opportunity to experience top-tier continental basketball.
Although they have seasoned players, like captain Lebesa Selepe and veteran Neo Mothiba, the entire squad needs to be prepared to compete at this level. Lebesa Selepe commented:
"It’s been good preparing for Elite 16. I’m very confident in the team. We’re itching to get that level of competition again. We’ve got the right pieces to make a deep run.
We are MBB after all, we’re not here for a participation trophy, we want to be a household name on the continent. We don’t know when we’re playing or where we’re playing so we just gotta stay ready and that’s been our focus."
The Blue Soldiers are also struggling to get a friendly game as all local teams are not ready to compete yet. This is due to the fact that there is a local tournament at the end of the month where the winning team will walk away with nearly $50 000in prize money so they are all holding their cards close to their chest.
[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of Dylan Lele and Lebesa Selpe]
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