Basketball in Africa

By Dann O'werre
KENYA will not take part in the Fiba Africa Zone Five Under 16s championships in Rwanda this May, a top official has disclosed.
Vitalis Gode the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) secretary said the boys and girls teams have been withdrawn from the championships although he did not disclose the reasons for the pull out.
He confirmed four clubs led by national men and women champions Kenya Ports Authority and United States International University (USIU) together with Ulinzi Warriors and KPA women will travel for the club event in Kigali.
"We will not send the U16s boys and girls team to Kigali. I can however, confirm we will send the national champions and runners up to the club event in Kigali." said Gode.
He also confirmed the national men's team will travel to a four-nation invitational tournament in Johannesburg mid this month.
The team has been undergoing daily training at Nyayo National Stadium under coach Carey Oketch. Kenya will face off against former Africa champions Nigeria, Mozambique and the host South Africans in the event to be held between March 18-22. It will be the second time in six months that a Kenya team will be involved in a top event. They were fourth in Kampaladuring last year's the Fiba Africa Zone Five All Africa/ cum Nations Cup qualifiers