18 October 2011
KENYA : Glorious KPA are regional queens
Coach Anthony Ojukwu was over the moon on Monday after steering Kenya Ports Authority to the Fiba Africa Zone Five club title in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.
After a false start in the regional tournament, the dockwomen beat Berco Stars 57-42 of Burundi in Sunday’s thrilling final.
“I’m very happy with my charges’ performance. They put their all to bring home the glory and this is very good for the country. It wasn’t an easy match, considering that Berco had beaten us in the preliminary round,” Ojukwu said.
After a false start in the regional tournament, the dockwomen beat Berco Stars 57-42 of Burundi in Sunday’s thrilling final.
“I’m very happy with my charges’ performance. They put their all to bring home the glory and this is very good for the country. It wasn’t an easy match, considering that Berco had beaten us in the preliminary round,” Ojukwu said.
The Burundians had beaten KPA 41-40 in the preliminaries and had gone to the final as hot favourites.
“Having lost to the Burundians in the preliminary round, we came out with a working strategy to avenge the defeat in the tough final to bring home the prestigious title,” said Ojukwu.
Falling standards
The coach said Kenyan teams should organise friendly matches with with top clubs in the North and West Africa to improve standards, which he said, were falling.
He said Burundi proved to be a threat to Kenya in the event by having both their men and women’s teams in the final.
Kenya’s Co-operative Bank surrendered their Zone Five crown to Urunani of Burundi, who shocked them 69-61 in the men’s final tie.
Uganda’s Kampala City Council finished third after beating Jeshi Stars 60-51 in women’s play-off match.
Kenya KCB Lions scooped the third spot after registering a 89-79 win over Rwanda Patriotic Army in the third-fourth men’s play-off.
KPA team which arrived back in Mombasa on Sunday night by road from Dar es Salaam had crashed to Kampala City Council of Uganda in the preliminary.
# posted by afrbk : 14:26
