Kenya have pulled out of the preliminary round of the FIBA Africa Zone Five Under-18 Championships (boys and girls) that tipped off in Kampala, Uganda on Monday.
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) secretary, Ambrose Kisoi, yesterday confirmed the development, saying they have officially withdrawn from the week-long junior event.
The teams’ that have been training at 209 State House Road under coaches Martin Okwako and Zedekiah Ong’ang’o disbanded camp Friday.
The week-long event got underway yesterday (Monday) at the Lugogo Indoor June Arena with three teams in participation.
Participating teams in the tournament in both the boys and girls categories are Rwanda, Tanzania and host Uganda.
He, however, expressed optimism that the senior national men’s team, The Morans, will travel to Alexandria, Egypt for the FIBA Africa World Cup qualifiers.
Kenya must not finish lower than the third position in their Window 3 Group 'D' games to advance to the second round of the competition.
The five best five-placed teams will earn the right to represent the continent in the 32-team Nation World Cup.
Kisoi said they expect the diaspora-based players to join the local-based before the camp starts on June 21. Morans started their quest to qualify for the global festival during Window One games in Dakar, Senegal in February.
Kenya lost all their three games going down 56-66 to DR Congo, 105-51 to Egypt and 100-55 to Senegal.
The FIBA World Cup will be hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia from August 25 to September 10, 2023.
