By Mwakilishi | Fri, 05/13/2016 09:11AM -0400
NBA Vice President and Managing Director for Africa Amadou Gallo Fall (right) with Neale Hill, Ford South Africa and Sub-Saha..
The National Basketball Association (NBA) will launch a junior league in the country before the end of the year.
Kenya is one of the three countries where the Association hopes to introduce the league in a bid to popularise the sport in Africa.
The league is a global youth basketball participationprogram for boys and girls aged between 10-14 years that aims at teaching the fundamental skills as well as the core values of the game at the grassroots level.
Currently, the League exists in seven African countries including two in South Africa with the number set to rise to 10 following the addition of three more.
NBA Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall said Kenya, Rwanda and Botswana will start similar leagues in a bid to introduce more youth to the sport.
“Our plan is to introduce the league to all countries in Africa within the next five years as we seek to develop the youth through sports,” Fall told Daily Nation Sport on Thursday on phone from Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday.
The league was introduced in Uganda in 2015 and Tanzania in February this year with Kenya and Rwanda set to follow in the footsteps of its two neighbours.
According to Fall, the league is expected to reach 6.5million youth in 33 countries across the globe during the 201/16 season.
Other countries where the league exists in the continent include Mozambique, Nigeria and Ghana.
“Basketball ranks second to football in terms of popularity in the continent and we are hoping that taking this league to grass roots will increase the number of lovers of this sport.”
The official was in South Africa to sign a multi-year partnership with Ford MotorCompany of Southern Africa.
The partnership, the first of its kind in Africa, gives Ford exclusive rights in the automotive category in NBA events in the continent with the two bodies expanding NBA programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“The NBA’s mission to develop the youth through sports on the African continent is strongly aligned to Ford’s mission,” Fall added.
- Nation.co.ke
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