United States-based duo of Derrick Ogechi and Devyne Marble are among 29 players named in the Kenya Morans provisional squad ahead of next month’s Fiba AfroCan Championships in Luanda, Angola.
Team manager Mercine Milimu said training will kick off this week featuring local-based players with Ogechi (Minnesota) and Marble (Detroit), alongside the rest of the diaspora-based players, expected to fly in later this month.
Seven of the players who did duty for Kenya in the previous edition in Mali, led by Tylor Ongwae, Tom Wamukota, Eric Mutoro, Ronnie Gundo, Ariel Okal, Fidel Okoth and Griffin Ligare have also been called up.
Kenya directly qualified for the tournament as runners-up in the inaugural show in Bamako, Mali in 2019.
“Some of the players stood out in the playoffs while others players are from the team that participated at the AfroCan tournament in 2019,” said Milimu.
The selection, she said, was done by a panel of coaches that included Rwanda-based head coach Cliff Owuor and his assistants Collins Gaya (Thunder) and Ancette Wafula (Ulinzi Snipers).
Milimu said Gaya and Wafula will oversee training before Owuor’s arrival.
The team will be captained by Equity Bank’s aggressive guard Victor Bosire.“We are going to look at commitment starting from the first session. This will be our criteria to whittle down the team. No matter how good one is, without commitment in training, they will not make the final team," noted Wafula.
Equity Bank forward James Mwangi has been recalled to the side that also includes lower division players in- Brans Nzioka (Ulinzi Snipers), JosephGitau (Stanbic Bank) and Ariel Ortega (USIU Tigers).
SQUAD: Victor Bosire-Captain, James Mwangi, Victor Ochieng (Equity), Eugene Adera, Lennox Mwange, Job Byron, Brian Shivachi (KPA), Dolphine Otieno, Ivan Ombiru (KU), Siaji Davies (Unattached), EricMutoro (Ulinzi Warriors), Brans Nzioka (Ulinzi Snipers), Ariel Ortega (USIU Tigers), Dennis Koja (Strathmore), Griffin Ligare, Dismass Mbaku ( Thunder), Kennedy Wachira (Unattached), Paul Raburu (ANU), Joseph Gitau (Stanbic), Diaspora-based: Derrick Ogechi (Minnesota, USA), Devyne Marble (Detroit, USA), Ariel Okal (Dynamo, Burundi), Fidel Okoth (Oman), Bush Wamukota (APR, Rwanda), Paul Ereng (Burundi), Peter Sifuma (UCU, Uganda), Ronnie Gundo (Unattached) and Albert Odero (Unattached) and Tylor Ongwae (ABC, Ivory Coast).
