•Owuor has been in charge of the Kenya team since 2019 and guided the country to the top of Zone 5 in Uganda in his first assignment.
•KBF last week added the much- travelled Australian tactician Liz Mills to the technical bench and she will be working with assistant Sadat Gaya.
Coach Cliff Owuor will not be part of the Morans technical bench for the FIBA Africa Afro-Basket 2021 qualifiers schedule on February 19-21 in Yaounde, Cameroon .
The tactician yesterday confirmed his unavailability for the event, citing another engagement with Rwandese club APR. Kenya will battle Senegal, Angola and Mozambique in the second window of their Group ‘B’ qualifier.
“Due to the nature of my job with APR, I will not be with Morans. I am currently headed up-country to attend a funeral and will return to Kigali February 10,” he said.
Last year, Owuor signed a contract to join his old club APR and did not return to the country after last November’s qualifiers in Kigali.
“The Rwandese league is set to start later this month and I will be going back to prepare my team,” said Owuor. He said his players as well as the Kenya Basketball Federation officials are aware of his move.
“The boys have improved and I expect them to do well. Apart from diaspora players, I am happy everybody is training,” he said.
Owuor has been in charge of the Kenya team since 2019 and guided the country to the top of Zone 5 in Uganda in his first assignment.
He won a silver medal in Afro-Can in Bamako, Mali before topping the region in the regional qualifiers in Nairobi last January.
KBF last week added the much- travelled Australian tactician Liz Mills to the technical bench and she will be working with assistant Sadat Gaya.
Meanwhile, captain Griffin Ligare said the training has now picked up well and with the addition of Mills to the team, they can only get better.
“The team had a rather slow start in our first week of training but now things have picked up considerably and the tempo is really high,” he noted. On coach Mills inclusion to the team, he said, “She is a great addition. She is going to bring a lot to the technical bench.”
It will be make or break for Morans who beat Mozambique 79-62 but lost 92-54 to top ranked Senegal and 82-66 to 15-time champions Angola.
Kenya face Senegal in the opener before facing Angola and Mozambique in the subsequent matches. The top three teams from the five groups will book tickets to Kigali alongside fourth-placed team.