The Citizen
(Dar es Salaam)
Suleiman Jongo
2 September 2008
Prominent US basketballers Matt Bonner and Jennifer Azzi are expected in Tanzania next week, the president of Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD), Simon Msoffe, said yesterday.
He said the duo will be in the country for four days to support the game's promotion campaign in selected areas.
While Bonner features for San Antonio Spurs, Olympic gold medalist Azzi is a retired player. The visit is part of the US Sports Envoy Program hosted by the US embassy and the Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF). It aims at promoting and fostering relationships between the two countries.
The duo would conduct clinics for the local basketball fraternity, exchange ideas with national basketball team players, coaches and administrators.
About 400 students of Dar es Salaam secondary schools would be involved in the clinics. The duo would also witness the quarter-finals and finals of the ongoing "Bounce Out HIV" street basketball challenge and the three-point shooting/slam dunking competitions. An all-star game featuring Tanzania's best young players will be jointly staged by BD, Zanzibar Urban Basketball Association and FHI Ujana Project.
According to the FHI/Ujana Project program officer, Novatus Mnaku, the objective of street basketball is to educate young players on HIV/Aids prevention, awareness and voluntary testing.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding the event.
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