THE Wagga Blaze won't be afforded an opportunity to shoot for a third straight Waratah League division two title after the competition was scrapped for this year.
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In a release, Basketball NSW confirmed that, after consultation with associations, they are unable to get the competition off the ground in 2020.
The Blaze's schedule will be reduced to a tournament held over the October long weekend for teams in their division, with a venue yet to be announced.
It continues a tumultuous few months for Basketball Wagga's senior representative teams, with men's team Wagga Heat confirming well before the coronavirus pandemic shut down sport that they wouldn't field a team this year.
Meanwhile, the juniors will also be limited to a short and sharp weekend tournament after the Waratah Country Junior Leagues were cancelled.
Representative teams in under-12, 14, 16 and 18 boys and girls divisions usually play a season across four weekends.
Each age division will be played at different venues including Shoalhaven, Maitland, Bathurst, Canberra, Illawarra, Gosford and Newcastle.
Basketball Wagga junior coordinator and under-12 boys coach Wade Willoughby said the tournaments, which will cater for a maximum of 32 teams, is a solid compromise.
"I'm pretty happy with what we've got to be honest. It's better than nothing," he said.
"It would have been a shame (not to have anything). We've trained for god knows how long now, played one tournament in Canberra and still had three to go.
"This will be good, there's going to be a lot more teams there now as well so it should be a lot of fun."
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