22 November 2007
RWANDA : Championships’ delay excites Owuor
BY JULIUS MBARAGA
Cliff Owuor is excited after learning that APR has an extra two weeks before taking part in this year’s Africa Club Championships that will be staged in Angola’s capital Luanda.
According to latest reports from Fiba-Africa, the championships’ dates were altered from (November 23-December 2) to (December 13-23).
Owuor who has been with the indomitable lions since 2005 has been facing injury worries with five of his top players.
For the last three days, the club has been training without Aboubacar Barame, Jose-Edward Elongie, Jean de Dieu Mutombo, Mputu Badibanga and Louis Kazimoto.
According to the Kenyan coach, Barame and Elongie are down with knee injuries, Badibanga has an ankle injury, and Mutombo has a groin injury while the club’s latest signing Kazimoto is still down with a fever.
“It is definitely great news to know that the championships have been moved forward.
I’m now more certain that my players will return in time for the championships,” the 34-year-old noted.
“The delay also gives us more time to work on the team’s game flow and coordination which seemed to be our major concern during the this year’s Gisembe memorial tournament,” Owuor added.
APR made it to the championships after ousting Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in the finals of this year’s Zone V club championships which were staged in Kigali at Amahoro Indoor Stadium. On the road to the final, APR had seen off Ethiopia’s Mazi Mazi, Kenya’s Cooperate bank and Uganda’s Nkumba University.
The All Africa Club Championship is the biggest club competition on the Fiba-Africa Calendar and APR will go down in Fiba-Africa’s record books as the first Rwandan club to take part in the competition.
It will also be Owuor’s second time at the competitions after guiding Kenya’s Ulinzi to the same event back in 2001.
Cliff Owuor is excited after learning that APR has an extra two weeks before taking part in this year’s Africa Club Championships that will be staged in Angola’s capital Luanda.
According to latest reports from Fiba-Africa, the championships’ dates were altered from (November 23-December 2) to (December 13-23).
Owuor who has been with the indomitable lions since 2005 has been facing injury worries with five of his top players.
For the last three days, the club has been training without Aboubacar Barame, Jose-Edward Elongie, Jean de Dieu Mutombo, Mputu Badibanga and Louis Kazimoto.
According to the Kenyan coach, Barame and Elongie are down with knee injuries, Badibanga has an ankle injury, and Mutombo has a groin injury while the club’s latest signing Kazimoto is still down with a fever.
“It is definitely great news to know that the championships have been moved forward.
I’m now more certain that my players will return in time for the championships,” the 34-year-old noted.
“The delay also gives us more time to work on the team’s game flow and coordination which seemed to be our major concern during the this year’s Gisembe memorial tournament,” Owuor added.
APR made it to the championships after ousting Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in the finals of this year’s Zone V club championships which were staged in Kigali at Amahoro Indoor Stadium. On the road to the final, APR had seen off Ethiopia’s Mazi Mazi, Kenya’s Cooperate bank and Uganda’s Nkumba University.
The All Africa Club Championship is the biggest club competition on the Fiba-Africa Calendar and APR will go down in Fiba-Africa’s record books as the first Rwandan club to take part in the competition.
It will also be Owuor’s second time at the competitions after guiding Kenya’s Ulinzi to the same event back in 2001.
# posted by afrbk : 12:21
