Moorosi Tsiane

THE Lesotho Basketball Association (LBA) says it has cancelled the annual Independence Memorial Invitational Tournament due to lack of interest from local teams.

The tournament was supposed to have started yesterday and ended today at the Lehakoe Recreational Centre courts.

LBA Public Relations Officer, Ratšolo Molupe, said they were forced to cancel after only three of the 22 teams expressed interest in participating in the tournament which aims to honour the late Mohale Molapo and other basketballers who have passed on.

“The teams were reluctant to register for the tournament and we decided it would be better to shelve this year’s tournament since only Khubestate, Bokamoso and Khubetsoana All Stars had confirmed their participation,” Molupe said.

“We reduced the registration fee from M1000 to M300 and so we are disappointed that the tournament will not be held this year as it is one of our major competitions.

“We don’t have sponsors and we work on a voluntary basis. We have a responsibility to grow the sport but we can’t do it alone. The teams should play their part.”

He said that the tournament would be held next year if the clubs were committed to it.

“We also need to work hard on improving the competition among our teams. I think one of the reasons why some teams were not interested in this tourney is because it has been dominated by the big guns so others may have felt they would only be there to make up the numbers.

“The teams can’t all be on the same level but we need to see that there is an improvement in the level of competition,” he concluded.