Kenya’s wheelchair basketball team have qualified to play at the African Games planned for next year in Accra, Ghana.
The two finalists in the qualifiers automatically get tickets to the Africa Games. Uganda and Tanzania were scheduled to meet last evening in Dar to decide who joins Kenyan in the final. However, the final will be a formality to decide the winner and runner-up.
Head coach Maurice Ouma is a happy man after leading the national team to the final in the event which started three days ago.
The continental games will run between March 8-23 next year after they were postponed this year. They were earlier scheduled for August 4-19 this year in the same country.
“The morale has been great but this has not come easy as we have been training hard and for long hours. We have focused much on teamwork and scoring hence the results," he noted.
He added: "We are happy that we have managed to come this far and even recorded huge wins in all the matches we have played so far. I want to thank all the players for the exemplary performance that ensured we form Team Kenya to next year's games," said Ouma on the phone from Tanzania.
Ouma is also the former head coach of Eldonets, the national Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) league side. He said the training camp they had shaped both men's and women's teams into the players they are today.
“We had a successful training camp in Nairobi’s Nyayo stadium. The team chemistry was perfect and that has been exhibited here,” he said.
On Saturday, Kenya women's sides were 35-10 winners against Uganda while their male counterparts managed to beat Uganda 60- 25.
A day earlier, the men's team had defeated hosts Tanzania 68-13 while Kenya women were 30-05 winners against Tanzania.
With only one team set to represent the region, the Kenyan women's team will also be working their way to qualifying.
“By virtue of reaching the finals, our men's team has qualified to play at the Africa Games because the region will send two teams.
