The Zimbabwe women’s basketball team has been grouped with hosts and Zone VI champions Mozambique at the 10th All-Africa Games set for Maputo in September.
The women’s team, which is coached by South Africa-based Ronald Garura, qualified for the finals in January after finishing second behind Mozambique at the qualifiers in South Africa.
According to the draw conducted over the weekend in Mali by the sport’s continental governing body, Fiba Africa, Zimbabwe will play in Pool A against Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria.
Playing in pool B will be Zone V champions, Rwanda who will be making their debut at the festival, reigning champions Senegal, Cameroon, Angola, Ivory Coast and African champions Mali.
In an interview with NewsDay Sport on Tuesday, assistant coach Simon Lawson said: “This is the tournament where the best teams in the continent take part.
We were expecting a tough draw from the start. We played against Mozambique at the Zone VI qualifiers and we have an idea of how they play and we will do our homework on the other teams before the games.”
The Zimbabwe team kick started their preparations for the games by taking part in a friendly tri-nations tournament in South Africa in May, where they were just too powerful for the hosts and Mauritius.
