AS is already well-known, the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) will be co-hosted by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in August.

Recently, the assemblage of teams competing in the CHAN this year learnt of the various groups that they had been drawn in.

From a Tanzanian standpoint, the national team, the Taifa Stars, appear to have been drawn in a seemingly easy Group B.

Indeed, apart from Tanzania, Group B features to wit: the minnows Madagascar, the lightweights Mauritania, the always tricky Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic (CAR), who have rarely made an impression in continental football.

However, despite that, it would be sheer hubris if Tanzania were to write off the chances of the supposedly small fry teams in Group B under the assumption that the Taifa Stars’ clashes against the likes of Madagascar will all be cake-walks.

Thus, it seems that the Taifa Stars will have to perform a challenging balancing act between having confidence, and arrogance in their matchups against some of the continent’s historically weakest football teams.

Regarding other pools in the CHAN, Group A has arguably attracted the most attention as it contains co-hosts Kenya, perennial contenders Morocco and Zambia, without forgetting Angola, and the once unbeatable DR Congo.

At this juncture, it is critical to note that Morocco, the DR Congo and Zambia are all erstwhile AFCON champions in days of yore.

Many ardent African football fans must be already tingling with excitement over the potentially monumental and mouthwatering encounters that are to come in Group A between Morocco and Zambia and the DR Congo versus Zambia.

In the big picture, it is likely that legions of football fans in East Africa must be displeased with the fact that the CHAN this year has been postponed to August.

Indeed, there had been such an infectious joie de vivre over the fact that our great country had been selected as one of the co-hosts of this year’s CHAN.

That being said, all Tanzanians are still admittedly thrilled over the fact that we shall be one of the co-hosts of a competition that is exclusively reserved for home-based exponents of football.

Let us hope then that the Taifa Stars can make a lasting positive impact on the CHAN this year and perhaps even progress from the group stage, which would be a massive first.

Let us now sink our teeth into America’s top tier basketball league, the NBA, which is approaching the midway point of the 2024-25 season.

Traditionally, when any NBA season nears the halfway mark, it means that the world-renowned All-Star Game is close at hand.

In fact, this season’s NBA All Star Game will take place on February 16th, this year and fans globally are waiting with bated breath for the huge occasion.

Usually, the special game is semi-competitive as basketball’s greatest stars are more intent on exhibiting their boundless skills than on actually winning the highly touted contest.

It should be noted here that the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently announced a number of changes that the All Star Game Weekend would undergo.

Whichever way the chips may fall, though, die-hard African basketball fans will be rooting for their favourite African-American NBA stars to put on a clinic in this unique game, changes or no changes.