Ulinzi land new opponent in new BAL groups

Ulinzi Warriors begin their campaign for a place in the 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Saturday against Burundi's New Star. 

The military side has been in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where the first round of qualification for their group D is set to take place, since Monday 25 October as the qualifiers were set to throw off a day later. 

However, withdrawals led to a delay in the program and until Thursday 28 October when the pre-event technical meeting was held, two teams from Group D had withdrawn prompting the organisers a recomposition of the two groups that have their first round games set for Dar es Salaam. 

"I informed you that in Group D we have the withdrawal of ASCUT (Madagascar) and Hawassa City (Ethiopia). As per FIBA Africa circular dated on 11th August 2021 (RE: Road to BAL – Group phase) stated that 'The groups and dates are subject to change in case of teams’ withdrawing' we have proceeded to a recomposition of the groups," competition manager Julien Farran's communique read. 

The William Balozi coached side will now face Cobra Sport of South Sudan while New Star who had been pooled in group E have been shifted to Group D. Both groups will have three teams. Group E is composed of hosts Kurasini Heats, Uganda’s City Oilers and Brace Hearts of Malawi.

Further, the program had to be amended and action runs for three days instead of the previously scheduled six days. 

Action throws of Friday at 5pm with New Star playing Cobra Sport in group D at 5pm while Brave Hearts play Kurasini at 8pm. 

Warriors play New Star on Saturday at 5pm while City Oilers face Brave Hearts at 8pm. The final day of action will see Ulinzi face Vovra Sport at 5pm paving way for the final match of the qualifiers that will pit Kurasini against City Oilers.

"We are ready for action. We used the time we had here to acclimatize and to hold a few sessions working on team chemistry," said coach Balozi. 

The top two teams in each group advance to the final round of qualification that will see 16 teams do battle for six slots. 

National champions - those from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia - automatically qualified for BAL 2022.