The second edition of the Mecki Sadiki Volleyball Cup that was set to start tomorrow to Sunday in Dar es Salaam has been postponed for a week.
Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner (RC), Said Meki Sadiki
by the Dar es Salaam Regional Volleyball Association (DAREVA), the annual tournament is now scheduled to start from June 5 to 8 this year at the National Indoor Stadium.
DAREVA official, Nassor Shariff confirmed to the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam that the competition will not start this weekend as earlier scheduled to pave way for the venue to host Inter City Basketball tournament this week.
“All arrangements are going on well for the event which is staged for the second year, but for several reasons we decided to push back the tournament for the first week of June,” he said.
Shariff named the reasons behind the postponement is that it interferes with other tournament that is held at the same stadium.
“We could not start our tournament because the National Indoor Stadium will be busy hosting the Inter City Basketball tournament this week,” he said.
He added that the Inter- City Basketball tournament is a big tournament, which local teams battle it out against other cities in East Africa so they felt it wise for them to postpone theirs so as to support their fellow.
“This will also help our volleyball players to turn at the stadium in big number to observe the game and also learn from other teams,” said Shariff. The Meck Sadiki Cup is open to Dar es Salaam based men and women’s teams.
The four-day tournament has attracted 12 teams. Men’s teams that have confirmed their participation are defending champions Jeshi Stars, current DAREVA league leaders Tanzania Prisons, JKT, Future, Police Marine, Chui, Twalipo and Makongo Secondary School.
Women’s teams are defending champion Tanzania Prisons, who are also DAREVA league leaders, Jeshi Stars, JKT and Makongo Secondary School.
According to Shariff, the tournament is meant to honour Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner (RC), Saidi Mecki Sadiki. It also aims to promote the sport in the region and country at large.