Silverbacks, Gazelles excited by BetPawa-Fuba partnership
Better welfare. Silverbacks and Gazelles players pause for a picture with officials from betPawa and Fuba after the announcement. PHOTO/EMANZI NDYAMUHAKI
What you need to know:
The two teams will now have their focus on returning to the Fiba Afrobasket competition, with the Silverbacks’ journey already underway, having completed the first phase of the qualifiers in January.
Players on the Silverbacks and Gazelles teams are probably the happiest Ugandans at the moment following Fuba’s announcement of betPawa as the teams’ sponsor.
The Uganda national basketball senior teams received a boost last week after local betting brand betPawa committed to sponsor them for the next three years.
In an announcement made at Fairway Hotel, betPawa announced they would give Fuba Shs2.6b towards the management of these two teams between now and 2026.
The costs to be covered under this partnership include team training, travel & accommodation to attend tournaments, medical insurance and supplements.
In addition, betPawa will also directly pay players Shs150,000 per match for every win their team gets under their flagship Locker Room Bonus initiative.
Locker Room Bonus is a direct reward to players by the sponsor for winning matches, as a way of boosting their morale and recognising great performance.
“We are very excited to witness this. As players, this will boost us a lot to perform better,” Silverbacks forward James Okello said.
“We now have a little more privileges like locker room bonus, medical insurance and I feel like that’s good enough because before we didn’t have these as players,” he added.
Having been part of the team for close to a decade now, Okello is one of the players who have seen it all with the Silverbacks.
For Gazelles’ forward Hope Akello, this is the first time she is hearing of sponsorship for the women’s team since she started playing.
The team has, in the past, missed events due to lack of government funding.
“For the longest I have played and even the people who played before me, we’ve never had a sponsor and we are grateful to betPawa for this,” Akello said.
“As a person who plays sports, you are prone to get injuries so we are grateful that there is medical insurance for us.”
The two teams will now have their focus on returning to the Fiba Afrobasket competition, with the Silverbacks’ journey already underway, having completed the first phase of the qualifiers in January.
On the other hand, the Gazelles will be back in action early next year in the Fiba Zone V Afrobasket Qualifiers.
