BAL Qualifiers: Ulinzi Warriors land in Group D

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men's league defending champions Ulinzi Warriors have landed group D of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers set to throw off on 26 to 31 October. 

Warriors travel to the coastal town of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania tentatively on 23 October where both group D and E matches will be played. The teams are divided in two divisions, East and West, the latter comp[rised of groups A, B and C.

The William Balozi-coached men are set to face off with Cobra Sport of South Sudan, Hawassa City of Ethiopia and Madagascar's Association Sportive de last Commune Urbaine de Toamasina (ASCUT). 

Coach Balozi says his charges have been using the local league as part of their build-up for the Road to BAL qualifiers but the squad will hit residential camp on Wednesday 13 October before travelling to Tanzania for the first qualification round. 

"I have a good squad and I believe we the players will hold their own to top the group. The preparations have been ongoing since we won the league as we knew this moment would come,"

Ulinzi Warriors turn focus on BAL preps and league title defence

"I have not played any of the teams in the group so we will be in unchartered waters against each side. However, I am confident we will prevail for a chance to become the first Kenyan team to feature in BAL in its second edition," said Balozi. 

26 teams have been pooled into six groups for the first round of qualification. The top two teams will qualify for the next round of the qualifying tournaments. Sixteen teams will take part in the final qualification round. Teams will be divided into two tournaments of eight teams each. Each qualifying tournament will have eight teams divided into two groups of four teams. 

In each group, games will be played in tournament format (round robin) with each team play the others once. The two teams placed first and second of each group will play crossing semi-finals, and after, a final and third-place matches to determine the three qualified teams to the B.A.L. 

The next round of qualifications will be held on 16 to 21 November 2021 for the West Division while East Division will have their qualifiers on 14 to 19 December 2021. 

At the end of the two qualification phases, six teams qualify for BAL 2022. The six join other six champions of National Federations designated as ex-officio to participate in the B.A.L which include Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.