GBA and MoYS celebrate president’s 48th birthday with international tournament

GBA President Mohamadou Musa Njie (Papa Njie)

As part of celebration marking the 48^th birthday anniversary of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Dr. Alhagie Yahya A.J.J Jammeh, the Ministry of Youth and Sports in collaboration with the Gambia Basketball Association will organize a tri-nation international basketball tournament starting from 23-26^th May, 2013.

The tournament start on Thursday with the host country The Gambia basketball team lucking horns with the team from the sister republic of Senegal at the Independence Stadium in Bakau. On Friday will be another entertaining fixture between two visiting teams Senegal and Mauritania, and on Saturday Gambia will robe solders with Mauritania on the day of the birthday celebration to end the knockout stage. On Sunday will be the final between the best two teams of the group stage, all matches of the tournament will be play at the Independence Stadium starting at 4:30pm each day, and the entrance at the gate is free of charge.

According to the president of The Gambia Basketball Association Mohamadou Musa Njie (Papa Njie) “the aim and objective of orgainsing this international tournament is to celebrate the president birthday, to expose our players for international competitions and also to prepare our players ahead of international tournament, hence our plans are to participate in the Africa qualifying round and the All Africa game 2015,” Mr. Njie said.

“This tournament will also give us the opportunity to test and know the strength of our players compare to other national team in the tournament. What we are expecting from them (the players) is to perform to expectations during the tournament so that they can raise the flag of the nation high. As you always our plans are to make basketball known to people just like football and any other sporting game, we want people coming there to know that the game is gaining momentum in the country,” GBA president said.