PLANS are in train as the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) Under-23 basketball championship is set to bounce off this weekend with play among its eight affiliated clubs – Victory Valley Royals, Block 22 Flames, Christianburg Pistons, Half Mile Bulls, Bankers Trust Falcons, Amelia’s Ward Jets, Kwakwani and Retrieve Raiders – vying for honours at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court, once it’s available.

The tournament has four seeded teams in Half Mile Bulls the number one, number two Amelia’s Ward Jets, Victory Valley Royals third and Retrieve Raiders fourth.
They are placed in groups and Group A has the Bulls, Raiders, Royals and Flames while in Group B conprises Jets, Royals, Pistons and Flames.
On Saturday, the opening night, top-ranked Bulls face Flames at 18.30hrs and at 20.30hrs Jets take on Falcons. The following day Raiders clash with Pistons in the first game and the second pits Kwakwani against Royals.

Next Friday, February 17, the tournament continues when in the first game Bulls face Pistons and in the other Jets oppose Royals.
On Sunday, February 19, Kwakwani will be up against Falcons then Flames meet Raiders, The following Friday, February 24, Bulls and Raiders meet in the first game and Jets challenge Kwakwani in the other.

The final matches in the round robin will be on Saturday February 25 between Pistons and Flames and Royals versus Falcons.
The preliminary round will pave the way for the semifinals where the top two teams will advance to the semifinals set for March 4 with the final billed for Saturday March 11 at the tournament venue (subject to its availability) the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.
Additionally, two other planned events are the Inter-School Under-17 competition among the secondary schools in Linden for Wednesday February 22 then on Sunday February 26 an Inter-Club 5-a-side for the MSC hard court pending its availability.