Kenya Morans on the brink of failing to travel to Egypt
National basketball team Morans coach Cliff Owuor (centre) gives instructions to his players during their training session at Nyayo National Stadium indoor gymnasium on November 21, 2020 for Fiba Afrobasket Group 'B' qualifiers to be held in Kigali, Rwanda.
What you need to know:
- Senegal leads the group on points’ difference against DR Congo and Egypt after the trio registered identical two wins and a loss each.
- The Morans are rooted at the bottom with three points after losing all their matches.
Kenya Morans are scheduled to play Democratic Republic of Congo Friday in Alexandra, Egypt in their opening match of the third window of the 2023 Basketball World Cup qualifiers but were Wednesday evening still frantically trying to secure air tickets.
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Secretary General Ambrose Kisoi disclosed that they were in a crisis but must travel to Egypt by Thursday.
“We don’t have tickets. We are still struggling with tickets,” he told Nation Sport Wednesday.
Kenya Morans play DR Congo in a Group “D” encounter at the City Arena, in Alexandra, tip off time 5pm local time (7pm Kenyan time).
It means that should Morans manage to travel Thursday they will just have hours to spare before the match.
Morans will next face Egypt on Saturday before winding up their Window 3 assignments on Sunday against Senegal.
Kenya Morans’ assistant coach Sadat Gaya said training had gone well at Nyayo Stadium gymnasium, Nairobi.
Gaya said 12 players have been training at Nyayo including foreign-based Ariel Okall (Uganda), Valentine Nyakinda (Rwanda), Ronnie Gundo (Spain), Fidel Okoth (Oman) and Ken Wachira (Uganda).
“It is not the final squad because we might link up with some more oversea-based players in Egypt,” he said.
Kisoi denied stories on social media that Morans had got sponsorship from Fiba and that the federation was looking for players who were available to travel to Cairo.
In the second window held in Dakar, Senegal, in February Kenya, under head coach Cliff Owuor, posed some threat to DR Congo in their opening match before falling 56-66 on February 25.
The Morans then suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of Egypt 105-51 on February 26) and Senegal 100-55 a day later.
By defeating Kenya 105-51, the Egyptians set a record for the largest winning margin in the African Qualifiers.
Senegal leads the group on points’ difference against DR Congo and Egypt after the trio registered identical two wins and a loss each.
The Morans are rooted at the bottom with three points after losing all their matches.
The best three sides from groups “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” after this third window will advance to the second round scheduled for August and February next year.
The best two sides from groups and the with the best third placed team will qualify for the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup in Japan and Philippines that begins in August 23, 2023.
Pay television broadcaster StarTimes Media will beam live Kenya Morans’ matches in Alexandria.
“We are promising basketball fans in Kenya all the live action at the comfort of their homes,”said StarTimes Regional Marketing Director Aldrine Nsubuga when he unveiled the schedule.
