SILVER FOR SUPERSTARS IN SA SHOWDOWN

MBABANE – Manzini Superstars basketball team brought home silver medals from the second Annual Barberton Showdown.

The festivities were held this past Saturday in South Africa, Mpumalanga. The fired-up Eswatini basketball team led by Coach Bheki ‘Size’ Nxumalo, competed against teams from the hosting country and Mozambique. Nxumalo said the games were played at a very high pace and commended his young players who outran most of their South African counterparts to qualify top of their pool. Superstars clashed against Mozambique in the finals and finished the first half tied on 24 -24 score. The Mozambicans dominated the deciding quarters of match, as fatigue started creeping in on the locals and eventually lost 43-36.

Despite losing the gold medal deciding match, Coach Nxumalo said his players returned home packed with the much-needed experience and exposure, considering the scarcity of basketball tournaments in Eswatini. “We gained loads of experience because we were able to play all our youngsters and the team chemistry was exceptional. It is also a good thing that we had lots of Swati supporters coming to watch us,” Nxumalo said. He further thanked the organisers of the tournament for inviting the hub-based team to the competition. “We appreciate their invite and we are hoping that someday we can also host one of these international tournaments. It’s so unfortunate that as a country we fail to host not because we cannot but because we lack funding. Basketball needs sponsors to survive, otherwise we have so much young talent that will go to waste if nothing is done about it,” he said.

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