Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) have been given up to Sunday to confirm if they are willing to host the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers.
Fiba Africa Zone Five secretary Vitalis Gode yesterday confirmed that the Zone president Hicham Hariri has already sent the notification. “I have received a mail from the president asking KPA to confirm if they will host the zonal qualifiers or not,” Gode disclosed.
He said the porters have a good chance of advancing to the lucrative BAL show if they host the qualifiers. KPA, who are also the reigning national league champions, have beefed up their squad ahead of the event. After the qualifiers, the next phase of the tournament involving some of the continent’s bigwigs is slated to tip-off in March 2020.
Gode, who is also Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) secretary, said he has communicated to KPA management giving them conditions for hosting the event. The porters have been grouped in the Maritime Zone alongside clubs from Djibouti, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles and Comoros.
He said a move to the next phase of this competition will see KPA join the preliminary round of the lucrative BAL league. A total of 48 teams divided into eight groups will start the race that will culminate into the final four parading in Kigali, Rwanda.
The host cities for the event are Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos ( Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco) and either Monastir or Tunis (Tunisia). Nike and Jordan Brand will brand the league’s 12 teams with official game uniforms, warm-ups apparels, socks and practice gear.
