Failure by Equity Bank women’s basketball team to qualify for Africa Club Championships, and Kenya Ports Authority’s withdrawal from the tournament were low moments for Kenya in continental basketball this year.
Equity Bank’s failure to reach the final of Fiba Zone Five Championships meant they missed a chance to play in the continental championship. For the first time in five years, two of Kenya’s representatives failed to play in the final of the championship after defending champions Equity Bank lost to Uganda’s JKL Dolphine in the semi-finals in Dar es Salaam in October.
KPA, who were in Pool ‘A’, had beaten the Ugandans in the group stage to top the pool while Equity Bank also led Pool B, booking a date with JKL Dolphine who eliminated the bankers in the semi-finals.
KPA women qualified for Africa Club Championships but later pulled out over lack of adequate funds. Consequently, Africa’s basketball governing body Fiba Africa has fined Kenya heavily, with the possibility of banning KPA from future international championships until the fine is paid.
In a letter to KPA, Kenya Basketball Federation Secretary-General Vitalis Gode warned that stiffer sanctions might follow.
Sponsors of KPA men’s team also withdrew the club from Basketball Africa League (BAL) in Kigali, but the players saved the team’s management and the country further embarrassment by making personal arrangements to travel to Rwanda for the championship which started on December 17.
“This is no longer about our sponsor but players as individuals. Playing in such a high profile tournament might see some of us get lucrative offers to play professional basketball abroad,” one of the players said of the huge sacrifice they made on behalf of the management.
A video that went viral on the tribulations of Kenya women’s national team in Dakar during Fiba women’s Afrobasket championship dented Kenya’s image internationally.
But there was some good news as Caroline Njeri Nduta defied the odds to win Kenya’s first ever gold medal in an African championship, the player winning shooting competition at the African Games in Rabat in August.
On a positive note, the national men’s basketball team Kenya Morans beat Egypt to win Fiba Zone Five Championships for the first time. Beating hosts Uganda before their home fans at Lugogo Indoor Courts was the icing on the cake for Morans, whose shooting guard Tayler Okari was voted the tournament’s MVP, and the top scorer at the African event in Mali. Kenya Morans thus qualified for continental basketball for the first time since 1993 when the championships were held in Nairobi.
During the African Championships in Bamako, Kenya finished a respectable second, a first for the team which surprised everybody with big wins over African giants Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire, among other teams.
Already, KPA and Equity Bank have qualified for next year’s continental basketball in women’s category, while Ulinzi Warriors men – who beat Thunder 3-1 last week to win the local men’s league – have qualified for the lucrative Basketball Africa League.
The teams must plan prepare well for these events to avoid embarrassing situations.