Somali Basketball Stars Tournament Concludes in Mogadishu

By Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar

A colourful ceremony which intended to mark the culminating of the four week-long 2012 Somali basketball stars tournament has been held in the capital Mogadishu over the weekend in the presence of high profile Somali NOC and government officials.

Somali basketball federation deputy secretary General and former international referee Abdi Abdulle Ahmed who first addressed the closing ceremony said his federation gives much priority to the stars competition since the men's basketball national team is always hunted from the tourney.

"We have had four weeks of a marathon job which finally ended in a successful manner. Our technical committee short-listed the national team during the tournament and we will draw special training sessions for the national team," deputy secretary General Abdi Abdulle Ahmed popularly known as Baasaale told the closing ceremony.

President of Somali Basketball Federation Ibraahim Hussein Ali also said other than selecting the national team, the stars tournament has another big importance for his federation and that is to foster peace and integration for the war-weary Somali youths.

"We held the stars tournament at two different stadiums each located in a separate district of the capital and we meant that to assemble youths and fans from far distances-we actually reached our goal," president Ibraahim Hussein Ali told the participants over the weekend as he was presenting the trophy to Abdulkader Mohamed Idiris the captain of the Global Hotel team.

Somali National Olympic committee deputy secretary General Mohamed Hurshe Hassan who delivered a short speech at the closing ceremony praised the Somali basketball Federation for the successive activities.

At the end, cash and medals were presented to the top scorer Ali Mohamed Aden and Abdirisaq Mohamed Dable and Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed for showing fair play during the four-week long Somali basketball stars tournament.

Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar is the NewsBlaze Somalia reporter. Contact him through NewsBlaze. Read more stories by Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar.