Morans hit camp ahead of Afrobasket assignment

With 32 days left until their return to the biggest basketball platform in the continent, the Afrobasket, national men’s team Kenya Morans are already putting in the work in preparation for the showpiece. 

The Liz Mills-coached side hit camp on Monday, 19 July, for non-residential training and are expected to get into residential training on August 1, three weeks before their anticipated travel to Rwanda for the 16-team continental games. 

While the technical unit has maintained a core of the squad that did duty during the qualifiers held in Rwanda and Cameroon, two new additions in Kenya Ports Authority’s (KPA) shooting guard Ken Wachira and Moi Airbase (MAB) utility player Derrick Ochieng are currently training with the squad and will be fighting for a place in the final 12. 

Wachira had trained with the Cliff Owuor-coached squad that featured in the first round of qualifiers, as a late inclusion called upon to help the team in training. The tactician had, however, intimated that if he was impressive he would be included in the final squad. He, however, left camp before the final team was named, a situation that the tactician refused to comment on at that time. 

Other local-based players in camp are Faheem Juma, Victor Bosire, Victor Ochieng, Griffin Ligare, Eric Mutoro and Joseph Khaemba. The foreign-based legion in camp includes Fidel Okoth, Ariel Okall and Tylor Ongwae.  

Kenya is making a return to the continental stage after a 28-year absence. Kenya’s last appearance at the Games was in 1993 when they played hosts and went on to finish fourth. 

The first edition of the championship was held in 1962 in Cairo, Egypt and saw the host country claim the first continental title. Five nations participated in the historic tournament where the hosts Egypt (United Arab Republic at the time) outclassed all four opponents to finish undefeated in four games. 

The participating teams in the inaugural AfroBasket included Egypt, Sudan (3-1), Morocco (2-2), Guinea (1-3) and Ethiopia (0-4). Over the years, the FIBA AfroBasket has consisted of different formats but it was in 2007 that things changed to the current 16-nation competition.

With 11 FIBA AfroBasket titles in their trophy cabinet, dating back to 1989, Angola is the most successful team in the competition’s history. The Southern African nation is followed by Egypt and Senegal with five AfroBasket titles each. 

With basketball’s popularity growing exponentially on the continent of Africa in recent times, the FIBA AfroBasket continues to attract some of the best talent who compete in leagues on the continent and beyond. 

Following the implementation of FIBA’s new competition system in November 2017 FIBA AfroBasket switched from a biennial to a quadrennial tournament, making this year’s AfroBasket the first to be organized in the new era.