Sprite Basketball back
Carlsberg Malawi Limited has announced the return of Sprite Basketball Championship nine years after pulling out sponsorship.
Carlsberg senior brands manager (non-alcoholics) Titha Mbilizi on Wednesday said this time the competition, which used to be played in Southern Zone, will be a national event.
She, however, said details about how much they will pump into the competition and the exact dates for the throw-off will be announced later.
“Discussions are currently at advanced stage with Basketball Association of Malawi (Basmal) on how we should go about organising the event. It will be a bigger and better event. We want to make our return memorable and make sure our sponsorship benefits many basketball players,” said Mbilizi.
Basmal general secretary Banthari Banda confirmed admitted that they are finalising discussions with Carlsberg.
“Sprite basketball return will raise the profile of the sport and we are happy that the sponsorship is back. We will do anything possible to safeguard our renewed relationship with Sprite so that it should be in existence forever,” Banda said.
Carlsberg Malawi (previously known as Southern Bottlers Limited) last sponsored Sprite basketball competition in 2007.
The company’s return to basketball is a big boost to the sport, which has endured almost seven years of sponsorship drought, especially, in the Southern Zone Basketball League (Sozobal) and the Northern Zone Basketball League. n
