Basketball in Africa

After a prolonged wait, the Kenya Basketball Federation women premier league champions for the 2014 season will be known this weekend.
Defending champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and United States International University- Africa (USIU-A) will be battling for the honours at the Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium.
USIU-A won game one 56-49 while KPA leveled the series with a 72-59 win in game two which were all played in Mombasa last weekend.
Games three and four on Saturday and Sunday respectively are very critical and could decide the new champion without necessitating a game five. Sarah Chan (USIU-A) and Yvonne Akinyi (KPA) will be the key players to watch on the court.
Co-operative Bank and Sprite Storms will play in the third-place decider on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the 2015 national classic league season is slated to get underway on March 14 with a proposal to change the league format into conferences.
Team managers from all teams have been summoned for a pre-season meeting on February 7 at Nyayo Stadium. At the meeting, ratification or rejection of the new league format will be top on the agenda.
If they adopt the proposal, both men and women premier leagues as well as division one will have two conferences each namely Eastern and Western. There was a similar proposal prior to the 2014 season but it never came to fruition.
The federation has also lined up two major pre-season tournaments that will help teams keep in shape. On February 21-22, there will be the pre-season playoffs at Nyayo Stadium and Railways Club while Nyayo and Kasarani gymnasium will play host to the All Stars Weekend on March 5-7.
Women Playoffs Final Fixtures
Saturday: USIU-A vs KPA (Nyayo gymnasium, 4pm); Sunday- Co-op Bank vs Sprite Storms (2pm), USIU-A vs KPA (4pm).
KBF 2015 Calendar of Events
Team Managers Meeting (February 7, Nyayo Stadium), Pre-season Playoffs (February 21-22, Nyayo/Railways), All Stars Weekend (March 5-7, Kasarani/Nyayo), League Commencement (March 14), Labour Day Tournament (May 2-3, Nakuru), Inter-cities (May 27-31, Tanzania), Madaraka Day Tournament (June 6-7, Kakamega), KECOSO Games (August), Inter-banks (September, Nairobi), Mashujaa Day Tournament (October 17-18, Kisumu), Jamhuri Day Tournament (December 12-13, Mombasa).