Basketball in Africa

Three players based in Uganda have been named in the provisional squad of national men’s basketball team that will begin preparations for the Zone V Afrobasket qualifiers to be held in Uganda this September.
Philip Amenyi, Frank Ogolla and Desmond Owilly are part of the 20-man squad that will be beefed up later with players from the diaspora. It comprises of both young and experienced basketballers drawn from premier league clubs.
Ancette Wafula and William Ochieng from Ulinzi Warriors, Allan Ouma and Salim Ali from Co-operative Bank as well as Thunder’s Griffin Ligare are the only surviving members from the team that was in Tanzania for a similar tourney last year.
Yoni Wanambiro from United States International University- Africa, USIU-A, Victor Odendo from Ulinzi and Kenya Ports Authority, KPA, star player Ariel Okal are the other experienced hands making up the squad.
Head coach Anthony Ojukwu is expected to meet Kenya Basketball Federation, KBF, officials on Friday to draw up the team’s training programme. The preparations will come in between the league with the Zone V club championships expected to take place in Mombasa this August.
Tentatively, Ojukwu has proposed to have the team begin training on August 3 subject to approval by KBF.
All clubs coaches involved
Coaches from all premier league clubs were involved in selecting the provisional squad. “I invited them to submit list of players from their respective clubs to make it inclusive. Together with my technical bench, we came up with the final list from that which was easy.”
Ojukwu, who will be assisted by Tony Ochieng from Strathmore University, said player accountability and size were the key attributes they used in their selection. “That is very critical in the game of basketball.
We placed high emphasis on accountability because its the individual player who takes shots on the court thus cannot blame anybody for his action. I hope that the selected few will be accountable,” he said.
Elsewhere, Kenya has lost the Zone V presidency to Egypt following polls conducted in Madagascar on Wednesday night. Maurice Aluanga, the incumbent, and Agina Wesonga were the Kenyans in the race but Hishem al Hariri won by four votes.
National Team Provisional Squad
Point Guards: Griffin Ligare (Thunder), Joseph Ouma (KPA), Salim Ali (Co-op Bank), Fred Lugasi (Equity Bank), Titus Musembi (Co-op Bank); Shooting Guards- Valentine Nyankinda (Strathmore University), Ancette Wafula, Victor Odendo (Ulinzi Warriors), Tobias Onyango (KPA), Yoni Wanabiro (USIU-A), Martin Kitonga (KPA), Allan Ouma (Co-op Bank).
Post Players: William Ochieng (Ulinzi Warriors), James Mwangi (Co-op Bank), Ariel Okall (KPA), Desmond Owilly (Uganda), Kevin Kigotho (USIU-A), Frank Ogolla (Uganda), Joseph Ondinyo (Co-op Bank), Philip Amenyi (Uganda).