Basketball in Africa

Seven players have been dropped from the Kenyan men’s national basketball team squad that is currently preparing for the Zone 5 African Cup of Nation’s qualifiers that is to take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Among the players dropped was last year’s Premier League Most Valuable Player Bobby Okwako Halwange. According to coach Peter Kiganya, Okwako’s drop out is a huge blow for the team,
“Okwako had other commitments thus coming for training was a challenge. We had no otherwise but to drop him. He is a very talented player but unfortunately for us we shall miss his services.”
Another drop out was KCB’s Tobias Onyango who was replaced with his team mate and danger man Ancent Wafula.
Coach Kiganya explained that a number of aspects were considered before making the big announcement of dropping the seven, “Through the Player Performance Evaluation, we look at a players’ capabilities such as dribbling, securing rebounds, defense, attack and the general athletic ability. With this in mind we look at how best you fit in the team with your individual skills and that is how we came up with the final squad. Experience was also a crucial factor that we looked at.”
“Every player who was called up to the national team was good, actually some of the best in their teams but we had to drop some and we used the best possible criteria to do so.” Kiganya concluded.
The team will have a friendly match against the women’s team on Tuesday afternoon at the Nyayo Stadium where both teams have been training.
Players Dropped from the team;
Antony Mbori
Clifford Gatonye
Evans Leting
Fred Osore
Joseph Odinyo
Kevin Kigotho
Bobby Okwako Halwange