Nairobi to host Africa City Challenge Basketball tournament

A five-day, Africa City Challenge Basketball tournament is set to kick off in Nairobi, on June 11 running to 16th at the Nyayo Stadium indoor arena, bringing together six teams from select East African cities.

The select teams are drawn from Nairobi, Mogadishu, Juba, Kampala, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam comprise of the top male All-Star players from each city teams – all competing for cash prizes amounting to a total of Ksh1.5 million.

Participating teams are expected to start jetting into the country from Friday June 9th.

Tournament Director Michael Finley has called on fans to turn out in large numbers to ‘enjoy a classic action’.

“This will be the best sporting weekend in the history of East African basketball and the players are all psyched and ready to impress.

“We support the game’s cultural diplomacy between all countries, in this case East Africa. It will be a monumental feat in the region’s basketball history, Somalia and South Sudan teams also included,” charged Finley.

The winners from the Africa City Challenge and selected city teams from West and Southern Africa will later be invited to compete in the inaugural ACC-AFRICA tournament.

The event will take place annually and is positioned to take advantage of the growing basketball interest amongst African youth.

“The establishment of Inter-City teams by Africa City Challenge will feed lovers of basketball with charged action and great quality entertainment, creating amicable rivalries and a sports competition that even non-basketball fans can buy into.

“The tournament also puts a focus on younger players (18-30) years old as opposed to the national teams,” offered Finley.

At the moment, all East African cities have a major annual league but there are no African basketball tournaments that offer prize money as an incentive for players to compete.

The Africa City Challenge envisages a paradigm shift by supporting Inter-cities competition and offering consistent sponsorship.