.jpg)
L. MathekaOwuor calls for early preparations as Morans’ World Cup chances hang by a thread
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 14.03.22. | 15:56
The national team remain winless in their quest for a world cup slot
National men’s basketball side, Kenya Morans, have a herculean task in July as they look to overturn their 0-3 deficit in the FIBA Africa World Cup qualification.
Up against tough opposition in group D that has the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt and Senegal, the Cliff Owuor-led East Africans lost all their matches in Dakar in February to put themselves in a tough place in the next window.
Owuor, however, remains hopeful his charges can overturn the result for a chance at making their debut on the global scene next year. The 19th edition of the FIBA World Cup will be the first World Cup to be hosted by multiple nations in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia from 25 August to 10 September 023.
“We had a tough outing in Dakar where, in the first match, we had to play with no personnel on the low post. Even after the arrival of Fidel Okoth for the second and third matches, it was still not enough to cover for the absence of our key center players and that affected our performance.
However, in the coming window, we expect more players to be available for selection but the most important thing will be early preparations,” offered Owuor.
Kenya has basketball talent that can compete well with the best in Afrika, even the current Morans team gat game. We just lack the organizational impetus that the top countries have. Our players deserve better
— Bball Pundit🇰🇪 (@apache14) February 28, 2022
Morans went down 56-66 to DRC before suffering the biggest defeat yet in a 105-51 thrashing in the hands of Pharaohs. The side suffered a similar fate against hosts Senegal conceding 100-55 to leave the tournament winless.
“Lack of coordination and team chemistry due to inadequate preparations affected the team. We are in talks with the federation and the players and I hope to have the players in camp at least a month before the next window. All is not lost and with all the stakeholders coming together, the team can still make the list to the World Cup,” added Owuor.
So far, a total of 16 teams have played 24 games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers over the course of two qualifying windows, which dates back to November 2021. At stake is the five tickets available for the continent to the global festival
