Lusaka — ZIMBABWE'S representatives at the Zone VI Men's Club Basketball Championships here are now expected to take on their Zambian counterparts this morning after the games were pushed by a day with the host association having failed to pay for the required organisational fees.

JBC and Raiderz of Zimbabwe were last night expected to take on Heroes United and Hetro Bullets respectively, but the two games failed to take off after the Zambia Basketball Association failed to pay US$2 300 to the Federation of International Basketball Associations.

Zambia were supposed to have paid the money to host the games to Fiba, but by last night they had not done so and they were given until today at 10am as the deadline to pay up.

Fiba Africa Zone VI commissioner Charles Saunders said they had received assurance from the ZBA that they would pay the US$2 300 by this monrning.

"They were supposed to have paid the money before the tournament started and they asked for room to pay by today (yesterday), but up to now they have not.

"We have no problem with the clubs because they paid their participation fees, but the mother association had not paid the fee to host the tournament.

"And that is the reason why we have moved the games to tomorrow (today) so that they would raise the money (as they have promised) and according to the rules they are supposed to pay the money by 10am.

"If they do not pay the money by 10am, then the games would be awarded to the Zimbabwean teams on a walkover basis. I am extremely disappointed with this situation.

"The country that bids to host a competition takes a very large responsibility and if they cannot meet the financial responsibility they must not bid to host the competition because it impacts negatively on the association and the region as a whole," said a disappointed Saunders.

Saunders said in the event that ZBA fail to pay the fees, the matter would be tabled by Fiba's regional board.

"There is a lot that would take place and maybe sanctions would apply, but I am not the one who can say that Zambia will be suspended. What is disturbing is that it is the players who will always suffer and this is very bad for basketball," said Saunders.