HERE ARE THE FACTS:

1. There is NO PROFESSIONAL League in South Africa and there hasn’t been one for years.
2. The name Myles Delport is being used to give legitimacy to the scam
3. Kwazulu Marlins name is also used to legitimize the whole saga.
4. <kwazulumarlinsbasketballteam@gmail.com> (CONMAN EMAIL ADDRESS)
5. topfameoverseabasketball7@gmail.com (CONMAN EMAIL ADDRESS)
6. The name of Richard Marante keeps popping up in the Scam and I am unable to determine if he is legitimate or another victim in this scam.

First let’s look at how this scam is perpetrated. I have left the names and email addresses of the conman in the hope that if you get a similar email you will recognize them.Below is the email correspondence between a so called agent and one of the potential victims:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DaWaun Wells
Date: Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 11:39 AM
Subject: here is all the emails
To: <>

While this was going on the bogus team got a hold of DaWaun and sent him this email:

Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:20:29 +0100
Subject: Re: Player from Richard Marante
From: <kwazulumarlinsbasketballteam@gmail.com> (conman email address)
To: <>

Hello DaWaun Wells

I saw your online game video and resume, am impressed. I spoke with Mr. Richard Marante today and he told you are such a good player. The point now is that I told me we wont be giving out ticket to play for now, but we will reimburse back to them what ever expenses the make, reason is that we have made so much expenses on reconstruction the new basketball complex and we are more concern on completing the project.

we are sending out an attached form, were you need to fill every provisional details about you this will enable us file for all documents that will enable you enter south Africa.

After which we shall forward to your representative the team contract agreement to enable you and your agent Mr. Marante go through.

Thanks

Delport Myles

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 11:02 PM, DaWaun Wells < > wrote:

Delport Myles,

As part of the research to get to the bottom of this, I sent an email to Myles Delport, the real one and this is the response I got:

Hi Myles,

I got a message from a player in the US saying that he had been contacted by an agent saying that there was a pro team in KZN interested. They used your name in most communication and I wanted to know if this is a scam or not.

The particular player is also worried that this might be a scam and was busy doing some research on the matter.

Kind regards

Victor

Hi Victor

The player in question did contact me and I told him it must be a scam as there is no pro team in KZN, some one is obviously using my name to legitimize the scam, they are getting their information from Afribasket I think. Please assure the player that it is most definitely a scam.

Regards

Myles

I told him it was a scam, but this is the second or third email that I get regarding this.. It’s a concern ..

Do you want me to email me the emails that were sent between the various parties?

Hope  you are well, are you still involved in basketball?

ciao,V

Hi Victor

No don’t email me, perhaps just put up a warning on your web site if you don’t mind, I don’t know how else to combat it, some of my friends from the USA have also been emailed with the same questions.

I am still involved but at a low level as nothing seem to get off the ground here, but we are looking at trying to organize the schools down here and get our house in order.

Cheers

Myles

As you can see this is an elaborate Scam to try and lure these players to South Africa but to what end??? I hope that this helps clear up some of the questions we receive in a lot of the emails lately.

Article by Victor Shakineza with information received from DaWaun Wells and Myles Delport

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Better late than never… here’s a quick roundup of the Youth Olympic Games basketball results that finished recently.

Girls

Final standings:

1. China
2. Australia
3. USA

Boys

Final standings:

1. Serbia
2. Croatia
3. Greece

You can read about the final and third-place games on FIBA’s site:

• FIBA 3-on-3 @ Youth Olympic Games – Final Day (Girls’ Finals)
• FIBA 3-on-3 @ Youth Olympic Games – Final Day (Boys’ Finals)

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• SA eliminated from Youth Olympic Games basketball
• Singapore’s Youth Olympic Games team – first look
• SA’s basketball team at the Youth Olympic Games

The Philippines beat South Africa 26-12 to seal SA’s boys’ fate as SA bowed out of the tournament with a won-lost record of 0-4.

The teams that will be progressing are:

Boys
Serbia – Lithuania
USA – Spain
Argentina – Greece
Croatia – Israel

Girls
Canada – Germany
China – Japan
USA – Korea
Australia – Brazil

You can see some stunning photos from Singapore here on The ‘Hood. These were passed on to MyBaskeball by someone attending the games, our sincere thanks for the excellent pics.

You can also read the roundup of day 5 on FIBA.com.

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South Africa was selected to participate along with 19 other countries, both developing and developed. With SA being drawn in Group D along with the Phillipines, Croatia, the US Virgin Islands and Spain (their senior team is current men’s FIBA world champions), it was never going to be easy.

Progress so far

According to results provided by FIBA, South Africa has so far lost the three games played:

1. Day 1 – US Virgin Islands beat South Africa 28-12
2. Day 2 – Spain beat South Africa 33-5
3. Day 3 – Croatia beat South Africa 33-4
4. Day 4 – SA did not play today (bye)

Despite the losses, this is excellent experience for our young players and we look forward to them bringing that experience back to SA – it is something we can all learn from to take SA basketball to greater heights in the future!

The mysterious silence regarding SA’s participation

We have not been able to obtain any information from BSA or anyone else about who is participating on the team or how they were selected. In fact, there has been precious little information about South Africa’s participation at all.

Our national body, Basketball South Africa (BSA), has kept surprisingly quiet about this exciting opportunity for our young players. It’s a real pity, since this is a momentous occasion and could have been used to generate excitement in the basketball community and amongst young players.

We can only hope that in the future we will see a much clearer and transparent approach to big events like this on the South African basketball calendar, ones that should be tackled seriously and suitably celebrated!

For further information you can also read:

FIBA daily reports so far:

• Youth Olympic Games – Day  One
• Youth Olympic Games – Day Two
• Youth Olympic Games – Day Three
• Youth Olympic Games – Day Four

You can follow us on twitter – @mybasket – to get short updates as the tournament progresses. You can also follow the Games on the official YOG website (www.singapore2010.sg).

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From Tom Degun’s article on insidethegames.biz:

“While the majority of the sports at these Youth Olympics are no different in structure to their counterparts at the senior Olympic Games, basketball has decided to be different.

…

Radical changes have been made to reflect the fact that were are actually at a Youth Games and basketball is reaping the rewards. Wherever you are in Singapore, the local people, particularly teenagers, are either talking about the action at the *scape Youth Space of flocking there in their droves to see it first hand for themselves. “

We wrote a little while ago about this fantastic new tournament type and the huge opportunity it has to revolutionise the appeal of basketball in South Africa – “FIBA 33 3-on-3 basketball tournament”.

It’s wonderful to hear these good reports, hopefully it will prove to the world (and to the powers-that-be in South African basketball) that this should form part of the strategy for developing basketball at all levels.

We can’t say it any better than Tom concluded in his article:

“when it is all said and done, basketball will be the will be the real winner of these Youth Olympics and others disciplines should take note of their brave approach to making their sport appeal to the young.

No risk, no reward. “

Incidentally, there was a report today that the basketball venue’s roof collapsed – a real pity for Singapore as host. We can only hope it will not stop the rest of the basketball tournament from taking place. And no, I don’t think that’s the type of risk Tom was referring to above.

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Spain - World Champions 2010 (soccer)

Perhaps not as easily or quickly remembered is 3 September 2006 when Spain’s national basketball team won the 2006 FIBA Basketball World Championships in Japan.

Spain - World Champions 2006 (basketball)

Both tournaments are held every four years, and those periods strangely coincide with the FIFA World Cup and the FIBA World Championships again being held this year – 2010.

For the first time in history, Spain are soccer’s new World Champions, and until 12 September 2010 when the new basketball World Champions are crowned, Spain is the current basketball World Champion.

This means Spain currently holds the honourable distinction of being double World Champs! Quite an incredible feat!

A quick look at the different paths the two teams took.

2006 FIBA World Championships

Like this year’s first ever soccer World Cup Championship, Spain’s gold medal in 2006 at the FIBA World Championships of basketball was the country’s first ever victory in the basketball tournament. That team defeated Greece in a one-sided final, 70-47, and looked strong all the way through the tournament.

All four teams that qualified for the semi-finals were undefeated after the initial rounds. Spain narrowly defeated Argentina in their semi-final, 75-74. With Greece beating the tournament favourites USA in the other semi-final, they were expected to put up a much better fight against Spain in the final but in the end couldn’t overcome the Spanish determination.

Despite not playing in the final, Spaniard Pau Gasol was named tournament MVP (Most Valuable Player). He was joined on the All-tournament team by teammate Jorge Garbajosa.

2010 FIFA World Cup Champion

Spain maintained a surprisingly low goal count and goal differential during the tournament, losing only their opening match in the first round (to Switzerland, 1:0) and winning all of their other matches (albeit most of them with a score of 1:0). The Spanish team won six of their seven matches during the tournament yet scored only seven goals throughout, one of the lowest totals for a winning team ever.

Although Spanish goalkeeper Iker Cassilas was the only individual award-winner (Golden Glove) from the team, Spain had six of their players voted onto the tournament All-Star team – reflecting the unquestionable skill of the team overall.

You can read more about Spain’s historic victories here:

• 2010 – They reign in Spain (Wall Street Journal)
• 2006 – Spain vs Greece gold medal game (FIBA)

Be sure to follow the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey, to see if Spain can defend their title against some very hungry and strong opponents. (You can find the official FIBA 2010 World Championships website here)

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The inaugural FIBA u/17 Championships drew to a close this past weekend.

The United States of America are the first ever winner of the FIBA U17 World Championship. In an entertaining gold medal game the squad of coach Don Showalter emerged as deserving winners. The final score of 111-80 meant nothing less than an eighth victory in in as many games. Runners-up Poland came into this matchup unbeaten thus far, but once more delivered great heart and sportsmanship for 40 minutes.

Read the full story here on FIBA.com – “Red, white and blue – and gold”

The final standings for the tournament:

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1.	USA	8	8 – 0
2.	Poland	8	7 – 1
3.	Canada	8	5 – 3
4.	Lithuania	8	5 – 3
5.	Serbia	8	4 – 4
6.	Australia	8	4 – 4
7.	China	8	4 – 4
8.	Germany	8	3 – 5
9.	Argentina	7	3 – 4
10.	Spain	7	2 – 5
11.	Egypt	7	1 – 6
12.	Korea	7	0 – 7

Before the tournament started, we said that “The competition should be fascinating to follow as it will give a good glimpse of what the basketball landscape might look like in five years time.”

Well, if that’s true, the USA has shown they intend returning to the top of the game and are taking it seriously even from a junior level. USA aside though, quite a surprising final standings list with the stronger international teams such as Germany and Spain coming in low down on the list. If anything, this will make the World Championships that much more interesting to watch.

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BSA programs 2010

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• Competitions Commission – boniface kambikambi – Zambia
• Development ( Youth, women and wheel chair) commission – Addison Chiware
• Technical Commission – Soares Campos – angola
• Marketing and Media Commission – Malesela Maleka – South Africa
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• Juridical Commission – Delfim Deus Jr – Mozambique

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