City Oilers now target African Championship

The City Oilers will approach the African Club Championship in December in Egypt with the same winning mentality with which they won the Zone V club championship win in Dar-es-salaam last week.

Addressing a press conference at City Tyres head office in industrial area before they presented the trophy to their sponsors, City Oilers' coach Mande Juruni said the team still has the same desire and motivation to perform well in Egypt, and will go there to win.

"We are naturally ambitious and winners and every tournament we compete in, we want to do better; we have good players and we shall approach the tournament with the same mindset; go there compete, and win," Juruni said.

"When we lost to Egypt by two points last year we decided to prepare well for them, so all our minds were on Egypt; so when they pulled out, it became sort of easy for us," Juruni added.

FUBA President Tashobya hands over trophy to City tyres General manager Venkatesh as team captain Jimmy Enabu and Team managerSantur look on

Juruni's words were echoed by General Manager Mohammed Santur who said the addition of player Stanley Ocitti was good enough for the ambitious Oilers who head to Egypt in the first week of December.

FUBA President Ambrose Tashobya attributed the Oilers' win to not only good organisation and preparation but also the competitiveness of the local league.

"The Zone competition has become very high in recent years, so it gives our federation a lot of pride to know that we now have a regional champion. City Oilers have a rich history though short; but it is underlined by commitment, excellence and good values, and their pursuit of excellence has brought then this far and I would like to congratulate them," Tashobya said.

"I have confidence in the clubs and players we have in the country and in recent years there has been continued growth and narrowing of the gap between the countries around us, so Oilers' win teaches us to be ambitious in whatever we do,"

He challenged the sponsors to ensure the team has enough resources to challenge the continent's best because: "we want to reduce on the gap and the dominance of some of these big clubs there because we are growing and what has been lacking is the belief and I hope other clubs can borrow a leaf from the Oilers," Tashobya noted.

The Oilers becomes the second Ugandan team to win the regional basketball tournament after Falcons win in 2001.

They have in their five-year history won the National Basketball League three times (2013-2015) and are on course for a fourth this year.