FIBA Africa President Anibal Manave has outlined possible formats the authority could adopt to ensure the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) is completed.
He outlined this in an interview with FIBA.com following the suspension of the anticipated competition that is a product of FIBA Africa and the NBA.
The BAL was postponed less than a month to the March 13 start date due to the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic; the postponement is indefinite.
The unclear status on a return date has forced authorities to come up with solutions to ensure the maiden run of the competition is completed.
Aside serving as the leader of Africa’s basketball body, Manave serves as BAL Board President and discussed possible formats in the interview:
“We are monitoring some African countries’ decisions to see what kind of BAL format we are going to implement. We have three scenarios: One: We keep BAL’s original format (regular season across six countries and the Final Phase in Rwanda); Two: BAL to be played in two countries with Nile Conference taking place in one county and Sahara Conference taking place in another country. The top four teams from each group advance to the Final Phase in Rwanda; Three: This year’s BAL is played in one country over the course of two weeks, including the Final Phase. We are working to find the best way out of this situation.”
BAL has 12 qualified team’s ready to compete.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
