Basketball in Africa

Kenya Ports Authority will rely on experience and home support to finish within the medal brackets at the 14th Africa Champions Women’s Cup basketball contest that begins in Nairobi on Thursday.

Sammy Wanjohi, the KPA coach, said competition would be tough but said he had experienced players who would take full advantage of the home support.
“We have been to this championships four years in a row. This, coupled with the fact that we will be playing at home, should make all the difference,” Wanjohi said.

The coach said his team would rely heavily on the Kenya under-18 star guard Helen Oketch, whom took part in the Africa junior championships in Tunisia and the Africa Zone Five qualification in Ethiopia.

Other widely travelled players are Caroline Arato, Agnes Anyango and Joyce Makhungu.

“We have several good players, but at this level, past experience will be the key factor because newcomers into the game will definitely be excited at first and might not really click,” he said.

Wanjohi said the team had worked on offence and shooting, which was wanting at the Zone Five games in Ethiopia.

The team’s strong point, however, is aggression in the defence, which he says should be difficult for the opponents to break.
The KPA team, which arrived in Nairobi yesterday morning, went straight for training at Nairobi Railway Club.
The team’s strong challenge will come from defending champions Desportivo of Mozambique and Primero de Agosto of Angola, who finished second at last year’s games in Maputo.
Also training at Nairobi club are Kenya’s other representatives, Eagle Wings, who are coached by veteran national women’s team coach, Smarts Olumbo.

Meanwhile, Angola’s Primero de Agosto arrived yesterday and were due to have their first training session at the KCB ground in Ruaraka on Tuesday.

This brings to four the number of teams already in Nairobi for the event, whose draws will be conducted on Wednesday.
CSA of Cote d’Ivoire, who were the first team to arrive on Monday morning, held their second training session at the KCB Ruaraka ground on Tuesday morning.
The other Cort de Voire team, ABC and First Bank of Nigeria, were expected in the country on Tuesday afternoon.
Other teams expected today include Radi and V-Club of DR Congo, defending champions Desportivo of Mozambique, Djoliba of Mali, Sotrata and Rwanda Patriotic Army(APR) of Rwanda.

At the same time, the 2008 men and women’s national basketball play-offs finals will begin immediately after Africa women’s club championship at Nyayo Stadium.

Play-offs
The Kenya Basketball Federation secretary-general, Vitalis Gode, said the conclusion of the season was characterised by the federation’s poor management of the fixtures and lack of co-operation from the participating teams.
“Although some teams did not cooperate to finish the play-offs in good time, the federation is also to blame by its failure to effectively run the fixtures,” said Gode.

He said the best-of-three play-offs finals are expected to end by mid December where the 2008 men and women’s will be known. Both men and women’s defending champions have made it to the finals.
Men’s champions Kenya Commercial Bank Lions qualified for the finals after eliminating Tigers of the USIU 2-0 in the play-offs semi-final. In the second semi-final, Co-op Bank had to labour hard to defeat Kenya Ports Authority 2-1.
Co-op Bank had won Game One 76-72 in Mombasa but the dockmen beat the bankers 72-65 and lock the series 1-1.
Co-op Bank finally carried the day 82-68 in the decisive Game Three to sailinto the final.

Women’s champions KPA knocked out Flames of the USIU-A 2-0 in the play-offs