Tough task for Morans in race for World Cup ticket

National men’s basketball side, Kenya Morans, have a herculean task as they look to overturn their 0-3 deficit in the FIBA Africa World Cup qualification set for 1 to 3 July in Egypt.

The team, under the tutelage of Rwanda-based Cliff Owuor and Nairobi City Thunder head coach Sadat Gaya will have about a week of residential training before heading out to, Egypt for the July window of qualification. 

Up against tough opposition in group D that has the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt and Senegal, the Owuor-led East Africans lost all their matches in Dakar in February to put themselves in a tough place.

“We have the Kenyan-based players in non-residential training under the guidance of Gaya but the residential camp is set, tentatively, for 21 June as per the government guidelines. By then we will have the international players in the country,” said Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Secretary General Ambrose Kisoi in an interview with Mozzart Sport.

The SG adds that the technical bench, in conjunction with the federation, is in the process of establishing the status of players before coming up with a final provisional squad. 

Owuor calls for early preparations as Morans’ World Cup chances hang by a thread

With a number of players who did duty for Morans at the Afrobasket Championship last year having already left the team, the technical bench has included several youngsters, to the team that has been meeting at Nyayo Indoor Arena, who are expected to fit the bill as they don the national team colours for the seemingly-impossible task ahead.

“Joseph Khaemba has already announced his retirement but the rest of the squad that was available for the last window is expected to make it to Rwanda. However, we also have included a few new faces playing in the national league who will fight for a place with the rest of the squad.

We have trained once a week (on Sundays) for the last three weeks. We are yet to name a provisional squad so those in non- residential preparations will be accessed before making it to the squad,” offered assistant coach Gaya.

In the February window that saw Tyler Ongwae, Tom ‘Bush’ Wamukota, Desmond Owili among the key players that missed out for various reasons, 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.

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 2023.

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 are the five tickets available for the continent to the global festival