MASERU — The tentative moves to resurrect Lesotho’s senior national basketball team are set to continue when the Lesotho Basketball Association (LBA) meets this afternoon.
The last time the senior national side played was in 2003 and its revival has been on the cards since November last year.
But the plans were temporarily derailed by the election of a new LBA executive board in February.
However, the LBA’s public relations officer Palo Mohlotsane said the association would meet today to discuss, among other things, the national team’s future.
“Those plans (to restart the senior team) are on the table of the vice-president and the director of coaching,” Mohlotsane said on Friday.
“On Sunday we are going to meet and we will probably discuss how far those plans have gone.”
Mohlotsane said it was critical to bring the team back to life.
“It’s very important … we have a lot of players who are playing the game for nothing at the moment,” he said.
“Action is only happening at youth level and there’s nothing at senior level.
“Yet we have a very big pool of players that has been created by the national basketball league, for example.”
Meanwhile, Mohlotsane said the LBA would select a team to represent Lesotho at the Scsa Games later this year after two months of trials.
This year Lesotho will only send a women’s team to the championships, which are solely for athletes under the age of 20, because of financial constraints.
The original plan was that both women’s and men’s teams would represent the country, but basketball’s budget was cut by the Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission last month.
“This Sunday we are likely to select the team that will go the games,” Mohlotsane said.
“In 2008 it was the same situation, and at the time we said we would take the men’s team only.
“This year we said we will take the women’s team in order to increase the morale within the women’s game.”
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