All eyes on Dar es Salaam for BAL 2022 Qualifiers

DAR ES SALAAM (Tanzania) - The battle for places at the second edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) set for next year continues this weekend in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city,  with eight teams in action from October 29-31. 

Groups D and E with four teams each will take centre stage and the top two teams in either pooling will qualify to the Elite 16 Round to be played in November and December. 

Cobra of South Sudan, Kenyan side Ulinzi Warriors and New Stars of Burundi make up Group D while Brave Hearts from Malawi, City Oilers of Uganda, and hosts Kurasini Heats from Tanzania will be competing in Group E. 

Cobra, who competed in the 2019 edition of the BAL Qualifiers, will be returning to familiar territory with their eyes on a place at the prestigious BAL. 

With their work cut out, the South Sudanese champions take on newcomers Ulinzi Warriors in Group D's first encounter which is expected to set the ball rolling for an action-packed weekend of spectacular basketball in the East Division. 

Pangi Abala Omod of Hawassa City back in 2019 in Dar es Salaam

City Oilers, who also fell short in the BAL Qualifiers in 2019, begin their campaign against a stubborn New Stars from Burundi in what is expected to be a fast-paced encounter with both sides possessing styles that fit into a running game plan. 

Hosts Kurasini Heat will look to protect home court advantage when they face the neighbouring champions of Malawi - Brave Hearts who also took part in the 2019 edition of the BAL Qualifiers and will be hoping to dig into that exposure. 

The top two teams in each group at the end of the round-robin format will progress to the final round of qualification next month and in December. 

City Oilers and Cobra and are the returning teams to the first round of BAL Qualification in Division East while the rest of the teams are debutants. 

The 24-team Road to BAL 2022 is split into six groups with 12 teams competing in the West Division and 12 teams drawn in the East Division.

Games will be streamed live on FIBA's Youtube Channel with additional updates on the tournament's website and FIBA's social media platforms. 

The six national league champions from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia have automatically qualified to BAL 2022.

FIBA