Kenyan teams begin 'mission impossible' at Red Bull Half Court World Finals

In Belgrade, Serbia

RBK Twende captain Matthew Kibet remains optimistic that the Kenyan representatives will do well in the Basketball 3x3 Red Bull Half Court World Final where they were drawn against the defending champions Italy.

The two-day finals start on Saturday at the iconic Belgrade Kalemegdan in Belgrade, Serbia.

Twenty-five nations will be competing for the 3-on-3 world title in the event that ends on Sunday with 10 countries making their debut in this year’s edition.

Noga Ladies, the Kenyan representatives in the women's category, were also drawn against defending champions Japan, Kazakhstan, UAE and Sweden in Group C.

RBK are in Group A alongside Italy, North Macedonia and the Philippines but with plenty of experience from last year’s edition, Kibet was bullish on Kenya’s chances of advancing to the next round.

“It’s a fairly competitive group. We are actually looking forward to competing against last year’s edition champions (Italy)," said a buoyant Kibet.

“When we came to this tournament, we had a goal. We wanted to get past the group stages as the winners which we want to execute. We also want to see ourselves competing at the highest stage probably finishing as the top team in this tournament. That is something we firmly believe and we’ve prepared for it and tomorrow when the games start, we’ll be more than ready.”  

Kibet is in the company of Derrick Olang who was his teammate in last year’s edition. Still, the addition of Kenyan International James Mwangi, who represented another team last time out, and veteran Kenyan International since 2010, Griffin Ligare, gives the team more dynamism and impetus ahead of the tournament.

“With the addition of the two new players that we have in our team, we definitely believe that we’ve placed ourselves in the best position to win. They bring experience and versatility both in offensive and defensive so we definitely expect to have good results,” added Kibet.

North Macedonia and the Philippines will be making their debut in the tournament but the Europeans pose a potent threat with all their four members playing professional basketball in Barcelona.

Also in their arsenal is the imposing height, with their shortest player 6'7 while their captain stands tall at 7’2.

The men’s category has 24 teams with six groups of four teams each.

“From the day we won the nationals in Kenya, we knew it’s not an opportunity everyone else would get and we want to give it our best effort and when all is said and done we’ll leave everything on the floor. We’ve done what we needed to do, we’ve prepared and come tomorrow (Saturday) we’ll definitely get good results.”

Kenya begin their quest against North Macedonia at 10am local time (11am Kenyan time) followed by the Philippines and end with the defending champions.

Noga Ladies will begin their campaign against Japan at 2pm local time (3pm Kenyan time) followed by Sweden, UAE and Kazakhstan.

“The intensity must be high against Japan and we need to cut off their two points and make sure we play great defense with plenty of communication in defense and great offence,” said Ashley Minayo, Noga Ladies team captain.

“Sweden might also be one of the other teams that might pose a threat. I’m confident in my girls and in our preparation and I know we will out do them.”

The top two teams in the men’s groups will advance to the knockout stages with the best four losers also getting through to the knockout round which will also be played on Saturday with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final slated for Sunday.

In the women’s category, the top two teams in the three groups of five teams advance to the quarters and will be accompanied by two best losers.

No Kenyan team has ever registered a win in any of the women’s games in this championship and the onus will be on Noga Ladies to make history and become the first Kenyan women's team to ever register a win in the Red Bull Half Court Basketball World Final.