KENYA will go back to camp straight away in preparations for the FIBA African Championships slated mid this month in Mali, coach Cliff Owuor revealed yesterday.
The tactician was talking immediately after Uganda stopped Rwanda 77-71 at Lugogo Indoor Courts—a win that ensured Kenya won the Zone Five championship after many years.
“We want to resume training as soon as the team comes back. We have qualified for Africa championships for the first time in many years and I want to set our goals so high this time around,” he said.
“The unfortunate loss against Rwanda was just one bad day in office. I want to build a team that can compete internationally. I am aware of the areas to improve on and I am sure we will give a good account of ourselves.”
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) secretary Vitalis Gode yesterday said the newly introduced tournament that has attracted 12 teams starts on July 19-28.
Meanwhile, the women’s team also made it to the Afro-basket despite going down 90-72 to Egypt in the final. It will be the first time that both teams have qualified for a major event. Assistant coach Evelyne Kedogo blamed their loss against Egypt to fatigue caused by an earlier game and too many turnovers committed by the girls.
“We did our best in the win against Uganda a day earlier and overlooked the match against Egypt. We were slow. We committed many turnovers and were down by as many as 30 points at one point,” she observed.
“We learnt a lot from the outing that will make us better going forward. Age was also a factor. The Egyptian team were so young and were much faster than us,” said Kedogo after the finals. Kenya made it to the FIBA Africa Afro-basket after getting a bye. The national side opened their Zone Five championships with a close 86-82 loss to Egypt. They beat Uganda twice in successive matches winning 92-80 and 72-67 before falling to Egypt in the gold medal game. The men, on the other hand, beat favourites Egypt 97-79, trounced host Uganda 70-61, hammered Tanzania 112-74 before being pegged down 85-66 by Rwanda.
