16 September 2009
KENYA : Fatigued dockers cry foul
By Erick Ochieng’
Africa Zone Five and national basketball champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) are yet to start preparing for a continental tournament slated Cotonou, Benin, from November 13 to 28.
However, KPA blame the Kenya Basketball Federation for the delay saying national league fixtures are congested.
KPA officials said yesterday they had been drawn to play many away fixtures in favour of other teams.
Two weekends ago the team travelled from Mombasa to Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium to play Eastern Queens; and on Saturday they will be back to tackle United States International University-Africa.
They said a team should have travelled to Mombasa to play KPA at their Makande gymnasium.
League fixtures
"It is tiresome to players. Recently we were in Kampala, Uganda, for the regional competition, then the Kecoso Games. It would have been better if we were awarded home league fixtures," said KPA coach Anthony Ojukwu.
He urged KPA fans to calm down following their defeat by Eastern Queens in the first leg. "The league is open and the defeat was a wake-up call for us, KPA have been winning for the past ten years and I don’t see why eyebrows should be raised after losing to Queens."
Each game
My message to Queens is: "Let us meet in the playoff finals to see who command the shots," said Ojukwu.
He said defeat by APR of Rwanda at the preliminaries of the Africa Zone Five championship and by Queens "were lessons to us. We have learnt to take each game seriously".
KPA has urged teams in the national league to emulate women’s African champions, Desportivo, of Mozambique and runners-up, Primo de Agosto, of Angola.
"Why these teams constantly beat us is because they have adequate exposure. Their local league is competitive as they sign up players from other countries," Ojukwu says.
National league runners-up Co-operative Bank, who finished top at the Africa Zone Five championship in the men’s category, will proceed to Rwanda for a similar event in December.
Africa Zone Five and national basketball champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) are yet to start preparing for a continental tournament slated Cotonou, Benin, from November 13 to 28.
However, KPA blame the Kenya Basketball Federation for the delay saying national league fixtures are congested.
KPA officials said yesterday they had been drawn to play many away fixtures in favour of other teams.
Two weekends ago the team travelled from Mombasa to Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium to play Eastern Queens; and on Saturday they will be back to tackle United States International University-Africa.
They said a team should have travelled to Mombasa to play KPA at their Makande gymnasium.
League fixtures
"It is tiresome to players. Recently we were in Kampala, Uganda, for the regional competition, then the Kecoso Games. It would have been better if we were awarded home league fixtures," said KPA coach Anthony Ojukwu.
He urged KPA fans to calm down following their defeat by Eastern Queens in the first leg. "The league is open and the defeat was a wake-up call for us, KPA have been winning for the past ten years and I don’t see why eyebrows should be raised after losing to Queens."
Each game
My message to Queens is: "Let us meet in the playoff finals to see who command the shots," said Ojukwu.
He said defeat by APR of Rwanda at the preliminaries of the Africa Zone Five championship and by Queens "were lessons to us. We have learnt to take each game seriously".
KPA has urged teams in the national league to emulate women’s African champions, Desportivo, of Mozambique and runners-up, Primo de Agosto, of Angola.
"Why these teams constantly beat us is because they have adequate exposure. Their local league is competitive as they sign up players from other countries," Ojukwu says.
National league runners-up Co-operative Bank, who finished top at the Africa Zone Five championship in the men’s category, will proceed to Rwanda for a similar event in December.
# posted by afrbk : 18:13
