Ulinzi in tough pool for BAL qualifiers
Ulinzi Warriors' Eric Mutoro (centre) tries to dribble during their Kenya Basketball Federation men's Premier League match against KCA-U at Nyayo National Stadium on September 19, 2021.
What you need to know:
- The second round of the qualifiers will involve 16 teams divided into four groups of four teams each as the search of eight teams that will proceed to the next round starts.
Ulinzi Warriors of Kenya will play Ferroviário Da Beira of Mozambique, City Oilers of Uganda and South Sudan’s Cobra Sport in the second round of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers, according to draws conducted on Saturday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The second round of the qualifiers will involve 16 teams divided into four groups of four teams each as the search of eight teams that will proceed to the next round starts.
The four groups are G1 and G2 for teams from the West Division, and H1 and H2 for teams from the East Division. Ulinzi Warriors, Ferroviário Da Beira of Mozambique, City Oilers of Uganda and South Sudan’s Cobra Sport are in Group H2.
The top two teams from the four groups will qualify to the next round.
With the winners of domestic leagues in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia having qualified automatically to the final round, the current round of qualifiers will help identify another six teams to complete the12-team BAL line-up.
Kenya’s Ulinzi Warriors advanced to the second round after emerging second in Group D with 1-1 record, having defeated Cobra Sport 53-47 and losing 74-80 to Burundi’s New Star.
In the next round, Ulinzi Warriors will renew rivalry with South Sudan’s Cobra Sport who got a wild card entry.
Warriors defeated the South Sudanese team in the group stage matches held in Dar es Salaam earlier in the month.
Big match-ups are expected in Group H1 of the East Division as Burundi’s New Stars and South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers meet. The two teams displayed impressive performances in the group stage, qualifying for the second round unbeaten.
Group H1
Matero Magic (Zambia)
Cape Town Tigers (South Africa)
New Stars (Burundi)
Kurasini Heats (Tanzania)
Group H2
Ferroviario Da Beira (Mozambique)
Ulinzi Warriors (Kenya)
City Oilers (Uganda)
Cobra Sports (South Sudan)
Group G1
FAP (Cameroon)
AS Police (Mali)
SOA Ivory (Coast)
ASPAC (Benin)
Group G2
SLAC (Guinea)
AS Nigelec (Niger)
BC ESPOIR FUKASH (DRC)
AS SALE (Morocco)
