27 October 2006
KENYA : KPA Come to End of the Road in Gabon
Kenya Ports Authority women's basketball team suffered a humiliating 84-64 defeat at the hands of Inter-Club of Angola in their third match of the 12th Edition of the African club championships in Libreville, Gabon on Tuesday.
The loss virtually locks them out of contention for the title after having suffering another loss to Somo "B" of Gabon who beat them 57-48 in the opening match.
The remaining match against group leaders First Bank of Nigerian yesterday was to be a mare formality. Victory could only guarantee fourth place in the group.
Against Inter-Club, it was again the experience of international Caroline Arato which saved the day for the Kenyans as she scored a game high 21 points to reduce the margin in this game which KPA trailed throughout.
First Bank who won the continental championships in 2003 and finished third in 2004 and last year, have stressed that they want to settle for nothing short of the trophy.
According to First Bank coach Adewunmi Aderemi, the target of the club this time is to return to the top of Africa women's basketball. having been there once and finishing third twice.
"We have done everything possible to ensure that we return to the number one position in Africa women basketball."
Aderemi who spoke to the Daily Nation on telephone from Gabon said he has the right players to do the job this time round adding that the challenges his team faced at the recently concluded final of Nigeria league has given his players enough preparation.
The Nigeria women's club champion, got off to a good start with a 57-53 points win over Angolan inter-club basketball club.The Adewumi Aderemi and Sola Ogunade coached Elephant Girls were trailing the Angola by 28-26 points at halftime but came back forcefully into the remaining two quarters to snatch victory which now brighten their chances of progressing to the semi-final in group-A.
In other matches, Nigeria second representative, Dolphins basketball club were not so lucky as they went down to another Angolan team Primero by 61-53 points.
Other results of matches played so far saw ABC of Cote d'Ivoire post a surprise 56-47 win over defending champion Djoliba of Mali. It was a double victory for Mozambican teams as Ferroviario posted a 59-47 points win over Hatari of DR Congo while ISPU beat Arc en Ciel of DR Congo 74-60.
The loss virtually locks them out of contention for the title after having suffering another loss to Somo "B" of Gabon who beat them 57-48 in the opening match.
The remaining match against group leaders First Bank of Nigerian yesterday was to be a mare formality. Victory could only guarantee fourth place in the group.
Against Inter-Club, it was again the experience of international Caroline Arato which saved the day for the Kenyans as she scored a game high 21 points to reduce the margin in this game which KPA trailed throughout.
First Bank who won the continental championships in 2003 and finished third in 2004 and last year, have stressed that they want to settle for nothing short of the trophy.
According to First Bank coach Adewunmi Aderemi, the target of the club this time is to return to the top of Africa women's basketball. having been there once and finishing third twice.
"We have done everything possible to ensure that we return to the number one position in Africa women basketball."
Aderemi who spoke to the Daily Nation on telephone from Gabon said he has the right players to do the job this time round adding that the challenges his team faced at the recently concluded final of Nigeria league has given his players enough preparation.
The Nigeria women's club champion, got off to a good start with a 57-53 points win over Angolan inter-club basketball club.The Adewumi Aderemi and Sola Ogunade coached Elephant Girls were trailing the Angola by 28-26 points at halftime but came back forcefully into the remaining two quarters to snatch victory which now brighten their chances of progressing to the semi-final in group-A.
In other matches, Nigeria second representative, Dolphins basketball club were not so lucky as they went down to another Angolan team Primero by 61-53 points.
Other results of matches played so far saw ABC of Cote d'Ivoire post a surprise 56-47 win over defending champion Djoliba of Mali. It was a double victory for Mozambican teams as Ferroviario posted a 59-47 points win over Hatari of DR Congo while ISPU beat Arc en Ciel of DR Congo 74-60.
# posted by afrbk : 08:33
