Basketball in Africa

Kenya’ international forward Ancette Wafula has quit Posta to rejoin his old side Ulinzi Warriors for the new season which started at Nyayo National Stadium last weekend.

Wafula, who was in Kenya’s squad which failed to qualify for the Nations Cup and All Africa Games after crashing 74-47 to hosts Rwanda in Kigali, turned out for Ulinzi Warriors in their season opener against champions Co-operative Bank.
The soldiers lost 68-62. Wafula had signed for Posta after Ulinzi Warriors pulled out of the top league and he was instrumental to the mailmen.
Third overall
He led Posta to finish third in last year’s league regular season to qualify for the play-offs. Posta lost 2-1 to Co-op Bank in the play-offs semi-final but later managed to beat Kenya Ports Authority 89-76 to finish third overall.

Posta, who are unlikely to take part in the 2011 championship have also lost the services other top players like Titus Musembi who has signed for champions Co-operative Bank and Franklin Delano and Desmond Owilly featured for the newly formed Thunders during the pre-season tournament.

Posta and International Christian Centre (ICC) added flavour in last year’s Premier League and their withdrawal will dilute the 2011 event.
ICC withdrew their sponsorship from the league and all their players have teamed up to form Thunders under coach Faustin Mgendi who confirmed that Thunders will take up the slot of ICC in the Premier League.
Thunders lost 55-51 to Co-op Bank in the final of the eight-team championship.
Ancette Wafula had joined Posta in 2007 after Ulinzi Warriors pulled of the Premier League following the Armed Forces decision to withdraw their sponsorship.
It was then that Wafula opted to sign for Posta who were by then taking part in the Nairobi Basketball League.

Forced out

He had started his competitive basketball career with Kenya Railways, who participated in the national league in the early 1990s but later forced out of the competition after the Railways management stopped supporting its sports teams.
Both Kenya Railways men and women’s teams under the leadership of Joseph Masyuko were affected.
Wafula eamed up with Ben Oluoch and Ken Ondiek to battle out with the youthfull players leading Posta to win the inter-provincial championship in 2007.

It paved way for the mailmen’s promotion to the KBF men’s Division One league in 2008. Maintaining consistency to score in double figures, Wafula remained an asset for Posta who beat Lomboritz in the 2008 play-offs final to bounce back in the top league the following season.

First season back

The mailmen performed well on their first season back into the top flight finishing in top five positions. Last year, Posta, who had won the league three times in a row between 1992-4, finished the regular season in third position to qualify for the play-offs.
Under coach Ronnie Owino, who is also a FIBA-Africa instructor, Posta qualified for the semi-finals only to be elimninated 2-1 by Co-op Bank.
Wafula, continued to shine throughout the season remaining a big threat in three-point shooting as the mailmen shocked the giants.