Fuba in same old catch-22, hunt Shs1.6b for four sides

Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) must find about $450,000 (Shs1.6b) to facilitate activities of four national teams between now and September.
 President Nasser Sserunjogi says that budgets were submitted to the National Council of Sports (NCS) but there hasn’t been a response yet with the events fast approaching.
 “We are in a financial dilemma with the national teams,” Sserunjogi says. “We have tournaments around the same time and we must find money for them,” he added.
 
Morocco looms  
 To start with, the senior men’s team, Silverbacks, is set to play Morocco in the Afrobasket qualifiers on July 8 and they require, according to Sserunjogi, about $100,000 (Shs370m).
Failure to win in Morocco will then cost Uganda another $40,000 (Shs.148m) for a trip to Cape Verde in what would then be the last chance at qualifying for the finals.
One win from the two remaining games guarantees the Silverbacks at the table of men in Kigali later in August.
However, they would then require another $100,000 (Shs370m) for the tournament set to run between August 24 and September 5.
 
Women
 Meanwhile the women’s senior team, the Gazelles, start training on Friday in preparation for the Afrobasket Qualifiers set for July 12-17 in Rwanda’s capital.
Their $60,000 (Shs222m) budget must be met to have a chance of playing to fight for a place in the finals.
 Qualification will then demand for $100,000 (Shs370m) to take the team to Cameroon, where the finals will be held.
 There is also the U-16 Afrobasket finals for both boys and girls slated for August 6-15 in Mali and the two junior sides will require about $50,000 (Shs185m).

Hefty penalties  
In total, Fuba is looking at about Shs1.6b between now and September as missing the events comes with hefty penalties from the international body Fiba.
 “We are hoping NCS will be able to fund the activities because these are national teams,” Sserunjogi asks.
 “We are also calling upon all Ugandans and corporate companies to support the teams. We can’t afford to be fined. We must find the money and travel.”

In February, the Silverbacks had their games postponed after returning Covid-19 positive results in Tunisia and must now find resources to look for that one win which is enough to take them to a third consecutive Afrobasket.
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