KPA hit camp on Thursday ahead of BAL qualifiers

On their third quest for qualification to the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Final 12, Kenyan basketball champions Kenya Ports Aithority (KPA) will have 10 days of residential training in Mombasa.

The side is set to hit camp on Thursday 5 October with plans to leave the country on Sunday 15 October for the four-team competition in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania slated for 19 to 21 October.

Basketball: KPA make easy work of Kenyatta University as BAL preps continue

Head coach Sammy Kiki says they are expecting at least three new additions to the team ahead of the Road to BAL matches where they face hosts Pazi, Burundi’s Dynamo and Ethiopia’s Sebeta City for the sole ticket to the Elite 16.

KPA have had a go at qualification twice, their inaugural efforts having been dented by a walkover against City Oilers that saw them bow out in the group stage of the Elite 16 despite winning the other two matches in the group.

The Kenyan champions made a return for the 2022 edition, booking an Elite 16 place after beating Djabal Basket Iconi (Comoros) 120-37 before losing 66-60 to hosts Club Omnisports de la Police (COSPN) of Madagascar in the qualifiers held in Antananarivo.

The Elite 16 hosted in Johannesburg saw the dockers go winless to exit the competition in the group stage in their second attempt.

Herculean task for KPA in quest for BAL elite 16 qualification

“We are expecting very tough competition from the three teams thus the need to bolster the squad. We are in talks with several Kenyan internationals and while terms have been agreed their identity can only be revealed after they join camp.

This is our third go at qualification and we are well aware of the level of basketball being played in BAL. We are, however, confident in our chances of going all the way with good preparations and a formidable squad,” Kiki offered.

The East Conference of the Road to BAL has been split into three groups whose matches will be hosted in Dar es Salaam, Gaborone, Botswana and Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Three winners from these tree groups will join Ferroviario da Beira of Mozambique, Cape Town Tigers of South Africa, Uganda’s City Oilers and NBA Africa Academy and one wild card holder in the Elite 16 set to be hosted in South Africa from 14 to 19 November.T

Meanwhile, the West Conference has two groups hosted in Benghazi, Libya and Yaounde, Cameroon with two teams from each group gaining qualification to the Elite 16. The four join ABC of Ivory Coast, Mali’s Stade Malien and the Guinea champions with one more team set to benefit from a wild card.

The 8 will play in Abidjan from 31 November to 5 December in the Elite 16.