All Kenya National Basketball Leagues (KNBL) matches programmed for this weekend have been cancelled to pave the way for the Inaugural Eliud Owalo Foundation Invitational tournament.
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) competition secretary, Joseph Amoko, yesterday said the matches set for United States International (USIU) courts have been pushed to next weekend.
“We have decided to cancel all league matches for this weekend to give way to the biggest tournament on our calendar,” said Amoko.
“We want all the focus to be on this event as all teams are looking forward to it. They are going out there to enjoy and give their best.”
Amoko reminded all teams that when the league resumes next weekend, there will be no distractions and it will go all the way to the final regular season games. “After this big tournament, we head straight into the BBF league quarter-finals,” he said.
The Eliud Owako Foundation (EOF) tournament committee’s chairman Ronny Owino said his team has worked round the clock to make this inaugural event a memorable one in the annals of the sport.
He said: “We are all set now. We have put everything in place and we are ready for the three-day event. The fixtures are done and we have also named the 17 referees who will take charge of the games.”
Owino, a former national team player and coach, appealed to fans to turn up in large numbers to watch the event.
Owino is also the chairman of the Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA).
Leading the 13 teams that will battle for the Sh1.3 million prize money are national champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) men and women teams.
Other teams are Nairobi City Thunder, Equity Bank Dumas, USIU Tigers, Strathmore University Blades and Ulinzi Warriors.
The ladies’ category will feature Equity Bank Hawks, Zetech University Sparks, USIU Flames, Strathmore University Swords and Storms. There will be three opening matches on the card at the Ulinzi Sports Complex, Lang’ata on Friday starting at 5 pm.
The semi-finals will be played on Saturday both in Lang'ata and Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium. Lang’ata will host the third/fourth playoff matches and finals.
GROUPS
Women
Pool A: women: KPA, Equity Bank Hawks, Storms.
Pool B: Zetech University Sparks, Strathmore University Swords and USIU Flames.
Men
Pool A: Men: KPA, Ulinzi Warriors and United States International University (USIU) Tigers.
Pool B: Nairobi City Thunder and Strathmore University Blades.
