14 August 2007
KENYA : Team to Gain From Senegal Championship
Dann O'were
Nairobi
Kenya will be ranked among the top women's basketball teams only if they participate in next month's Africa Feminine Championships in Senegal.
The latest world ranking released by the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) indicates that Kenya's participation at the All Africa Games has not placed them anywhere among the best.
Gold medallists Senegal are the top African ranked team at the 19th slot. Nigeria, who bagged silver, are 21st, Tunisia 24th, DRC 33 and Mali 35 and bronze medallists Angola 46th.
Kenya beat DR Congo, Tunisia and lost narrowly to Nigeria at the Pan Africa games held in Algeria last month.
Another outing in Dakar next month will see them placed among the top three in Africa.
The women's national team is expected to perform better in the Senegal show, said the captain, Angela Luchivya. She said Kenyans lacked aggressiveness, were not good at ball movements and did not have good shooters.
"If we could work on these weaknesses, we could be able to do better in the Dakar tournament," she told SportFest in an interview.
She said the players get tired after only their opening three matches and as a result found the going difficult.
The Dakar festival that will bring together 12 teams from all over the continent will be held from September 21 to 30.
Kenya has once again been pooled alongside defending champions, Nigeria, Angola, Cameroon, DRC and Cape Verde.
