HARARE - The newly reelected chairmanship of Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) led by Addison Chiware is confident on a brighter future for the game in the country.

Chiware and his board were confirmed last month after winning the elections in December and are aiming to bring a new managerial model to Zimbabwe basketball.

Last summer their women's national team returned to the AfroBasket Women for the first time since 1994, although Zimbabwe finished bottom of the tournament held in the neighboring Maputo, Mozambique, with a 0-7 record.

Despite the geographical proximity to Maputo, the team coached by Skhumbuzo Ndlovu arrived a day later in Maputo due to administrative reasons. 

For Chiware, who is expected to chair BUZ in the next four years, the reality of basketball in the country will be totally different in the coming years.

"I think failure to attend tournaments will be a thing of the past now given the new dispensation of a stand-alone ministry of sports," Chiware has quoted as saying to the local media.

"Minister (of Sports) Andrew Langa has also promised us that we will have the full backing of the government. But we are also going into partnerships with multinational companies, a move which will ease some of our financial burdens," said Chiware.

In Maputo, Ndlovu's team lost to Algeria on two occasions, they registered their biggest margin of defeat (89 points) against Mozambique, could not do much against Senegal, Egypt and Cote d'Ivoire, but did reasonably well against Kenya.

The new BUZ board see their presence at AfroBasket Women 2013, which qualified two African teams for the 2014 FIBA World Championship, as past as they aim a new era.

"The next step is podium performance, we want to see the best level of basketball. We want medals starting from our junior level especially at this year's (Africa) Zone Six Under-20 Games.

"This year our men's and women's basketball team have a high chance of qualifying for the 2015 All Africa Games as well as the FIBA Africa Championships.

"We can promise that the national teams that are the flagship brands of Zimbabwe basketball are going to get more attention in terms of technical support and high performance opportunities," said Chiware.

FIBA