The first match pitted New Star against Cape Town Tigers of South Africa. New Star won this opening match with a score of 83-71. A difference of 12 points, thanks to the remarkable performance of Alvaro Masa (25 points), Kenneth Gasana (20 points) and their winger Landry Ndikumana who scored 19 points.

Matero Magic of Zambia also suffered a defeat before the Black-Red (New Star team's jersey) losing with a score of (78-70). This match made New Star a revelation thanks to the genius of experienced Rwandan-American Gasana Kenneth (28 points)

The semi-final match did not smile on New Star. Cobra Sports from South Sudan won a tight victory of (76-78). Despite the defeat, Alvaro Masa had spared no effort. By himself, he scored 33 points.

For the last match that would become the apple of discord, New Star was supposed to clash with Cape Town Tigers. Unfortunately, the match did not take place. Several New Star players having tested positive on PCR, as well as one CTT (South Africa) player.

Appeal against FIBA's decision

On December 11, 2021, FIBA decides to exclude the New Star delegation by referring to articles 4.1(d) of FIBA's general statutes, articles 2 to 19 of FIBA's internal regulations and the provisions of the COVID-19 protocol

The day after this letter, FEBABU files an appeal against the forfeit that New Star received. FEBABU requests that the match be replayed on neutral ground.

For Ildephonse Nahimana, president of NewStar, all three decisions including the forfeit, cancellation and exclusion of New Star from the competition are contradictory.

"If the organizers decide that a match is postponed it means that this match will be replayed one day." he argues

Parallel to this decision, "we were then told that the match is cancelled. In principle if the match is cancelled, the basis for qualification said to refer to the different performances of the teams. Yet the team had 5 out of 6 points but Cape Town Tigers had 4 points. Resorting to the average is not even possible because the points differ" Nahimana protests.

And to add: "It was only 30 minutes after takeoff that we learned that our team was eliminated by forfeit. We subsequently sent a letter of appeal against this decision addressed to FIBA-Africa with copies to FIBA World and the president of Zone 5, in order to show the blatant case of injustice that we had just suffered"

Read: Headline: CAN under pressure…

The disillusionment

In a letter in response to the appeal against the forfeit of the New Star team, FIBA Africa clarifies that the allegations of FEBABU (Burundi Basketball Federation) are serious and unacceptable.

"You accuse FIBA – Africa of favoring the countries organizing the competitions and especially of not having protected your delegation in the bubble. You even claim the manipulation of Covid 19 tests by the host country. Which is why you propose to replay the match New Star of Burundi against the team of Cape Town Tigers of South Africa", argues FIBA-Africa on this sanction.

FIBA considers that such allegations come from a country that has only recently appeared in this high-level competition", he continues

FIBA emphasizes that: "the new Covid variant announced did not prevent activities in the host country. And no health organization prohibited access to South Africa. You should also know that covid is no longer considered a case of force majeure for FIBA which is why FIBA competitions take place normally throughout the world"

Note that City Oilers (Uganda) and Kurasini Heats (Tanzania) withdrew from the qualifying rounds of the "Elite 16 Road to BAL" because of the emergence of the COVID-19 variant in South Africa. The defending champion of the competition was the Zamalek club of Egypt.

Also read: NEW STAR CLUB: The forfeit in the qualification matches for the Elite 16 phase, deemed unfair

Joe Senghor