Basketball Winter Tournament set to heat up winter

The Winter Tournament is just in time... 

The Lesotho Basketball Association’s (LBA) annual Winter Tournament is set to raise the temperature this coming weekend.

The always hotly-contested event will take place at the Lehakoe Club on Saturday and Sunday.

The competition is revamped this year with Vodacom Lesotho sponsoring the event to the tune of M10 000 worth of airtime which can be converted into money via M-PESA.

So far, four ladies teams and six men’s teams have registered for the Winter Tournament.

The men’s teams are Leseli, Bashana Baheso, Bokamoso South, Buffalos, Lichocha Shooting Rifles and 2015/16 national champions, KTA All Stars. The ladies teams are BBH, KTA, Bokamoso South and local basketball queens, Lichocha Shooting Rifles. The LBA will reveal the final list of contenders by Thursday.

To football, and the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) is currently holding a CAF A License course for 25 local and two foreign coaches at the Bambatha Tšita Sports Complex.

The foreign coaches are Morena Ramoreboli who heads South Africa Premier League side Bloemfontein Celtics’ youth development. Ramoreboli famously masterminded the 4-1 drubbing of South African giants Orlando Pirates by third division outfit Maluti FET College’s in the 2013 Nedbank Cup.

The other foreign coach is Englishman Mark Harrison who coaches Botswana top-flight giants Township Rollers and previously worked in South Africa.

Former Lesotho captain and current Bloemfontein Celtic assistant coach Lehlohonolo Seema is also going through his paces at the course.

The CAF A License is the highest qualification offered by the governing body of African football. The hosting of the course is also part of the LeFA’s endeavours to move from amateur football to a semi-professional status.