Basketball is gaining popularity in South Africa, but in Zaire it has long been the most popular game
BASKETBALL: Julian Drew
IF YOU had switched on the television and watched the recorded highlights of the recent African women’s basketball final between Zaire and Senegal, you could have been forgiven for thinking the game had taken place in Zaire.
The hall was crammed with fanatical Zaireans whose constant singing and dancing was accompanied by a roar that nearly lifted the roof off every time their team scored. When the final hooter sounded to confirm Zaire’s emphatic victory, the cacophony of exploding firecrackers amid a swirling mass of yellow and green balloons only served to reinforce the impression of a soccer match in Brazil’s magical Maracana stadium.
But in reality it was kwassa-kwassa time in Johannesburg, not Kinshasa, as the jubilant supporters fled into the darkness to begin their all-night revelry.
The championships took place at Johannesburg’s Wembley Indoor Arena after having been transferred there last February from the original hosts, Cape Town, who decided they were not ready to stage them. That proved to be a blessing in disguise because the Mozambican and Zairean communities, who form part of the multifarious ethnic tapestry of South Africa’s most cosmopolitan city, turned out en masse to watch their teams.
But while the Mozambicans and Zaireans in the stands, and the Woza Africa Artists at the closing ceremony, infused the championships with an African spirit yet to be matched by any other championship event staged in this country, the local interest in the tournament was limited.
Basketball may be South Africa’s fastest-growing sport but it has come from an almost non-existent background and a large support base has still to be developed. That situation will not improve with the myopic outlook of the local media.
The Zairean coach was rightly puzzled when he discovered the match was not shown live on television. The most exciting stage of the tournament, the sudden-death knockout of the semifinals and final, received hardly a mention in the local press because South Africa didn’t progress that far.
It is all very well showing the American professional game on television to generate an interest in the sport but the public also need to know that Africans can play the game too. Otherwise they will never be enticed from the TV couch to the live arena and the growth of the sport will suffer.
In Zaire basketball is the most popular sport among women, and second only to soccer for men. The country’s most popular sports star is Dikembe Mutombo who plays as a centre in America’s National Basketball Association for the Denver Nuggets. Zaire’s 68-48 victory over reigning champions Senegal made front-page headlines in the media back home.
Zaire’s main strengths are in their superb defensive play and lightning speed around the court. The linchpin of their team is 34-year-old captain Kamanga Adele, whose commanding play as a point guard controls their game from the rear. She is near the end of her career but her partner in defence, 25-year-old Mbuyi Maguy, and the tournament’s two top scorers, 18-year-old Maudi Youyou and 21-year-old Ngalula Nana, have bright futures in the game.
Zaire’s assistant coach Mbuyi Kadima said Zaire also has many overseas players in Belgium and France but they decided not to use them in Johannesburg. “We created a new team with players based in Zaire,” he said. “We are trying to blend new players with current experience. It is mainly a young team which will progress and get better but we must make sure they don’t get bigheaded and that they continue to work hard.”
The injection of youth comes from their junior team which, as African champions, represented Africa at last year’s world junior championships in Korea where they beat Japan before losing their other four games.
Although the women’s game in Zaire is amateur, competition is strong. There are 10 teams in the Kinshasa league and each of the country’s other nine regions has a similar set- up. The champions of each region play for the Zaire Cup. “Each of the club teams in Kinshasa is as strong as the other national teams at the African Championships,” said Kadima.
Surprisingly, the sport doesn’t receive government backing and relies solely on fans and club members for funds. The recent problems in Zaire and the resultant collapse of the economy have posed problems, said Kadima. “The players used to train every day before but now it is not so often because there is no money for transport and equipment and to help with players’ injuries,” he said.
Up-and-coming defensive guard Mbuyi Maguy comes from a basketball-crazy family in Lubumbashi in the south of the country. But although her two brothers played the game her father forbade her to play until she finished school. That didn’t deter her though and she persuaded her aunt in Kinshasa to let her stay with her to complete the final year of her studies.
The real reason, however, was so she could play basketball away from her father’s watchful eye. That was in 1988 and within a few months she was in the national junior team, followed two years later by her senior debut and a stint as a professional in Angola. “I think this team can become very good in world basketball but the only problem is we lack material assistance,” said Maguy. “Until last year we had only one tournament court in Kinshasa, now there are two. If the government could help us with competitions, training camps and support for the national coaches we could really do well,” she said.
As African champions, Zaire automatically qualify for one of the three places open to Africa at next year’s pre- Olympic qualifying tournament, a stage they have graced twice before without success. That is a state of affairs they will be looking to alter so that they can proceed to Atlanta and make the same kind of impact that the skilful Angolan men’s team made in Barcelona.
Before that they hope to wrest the All Africa Games title from Mozambique in Harare in September.