Ojukwu opens up on lessons from WBL-AQ ahead of league tip-off
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Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 14.11.24. | 13:08
The veteran tactician believes that Kenyan teams need to continue investing in good players if the league is to keep up with the best in the continent
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) women’s basketball team is set to begin their 2024/25 Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) league season on the weekend with two matches against Safe Spaces and the University of Nairobi (UoN) Dynamites.
The side, fresh from competing in the Women’s Basketball League-Africa Zone Five Qualifiers held in Zanzibar, where they finished fourth, missing out on automatic qualification, are on the mend both locally and internationally.
Head coach Antony Ojukwu says the side’s run in the Zone Five competition has been an eye-opener on the paradigm shift that African women’s basketball is experiencing and a wake-up call for the Dockers to step up.
“Basketball has changed. Zone Five is extremely competitive now. Teams have intensely invested in their squads and are signing more elite players whose work ethic is not what we had been used to,” Ojukwu told Mozzart Sport while acknowledging that it takes work and money to achieve such squads.
In Zanzibar, KPA lost the semis match to a well-organized Al Ahly Sporting side by Egypt, going down to APR of Rwanda in the third-place match. The Egyptians won the Zone title against a hard-fighting Rwanda Energy Group (REG) both sides qualifying for the African competition slated for 5 to 15 December in Dakar, Senegal.
There was no time to rest for Ojukwu’s charges, who had to quickly swing into action, regroup, and be ready for the new season, where they are looking to reclaim the national title from Equity Bank Hawks.
“I still believe the two sides remain the dominant teams locally, but that does not take away from the other teams and the work they are putting in to remain competitive against the two (KPA and Hawks). However, there is work to be done by both sides to continue improving the levels of basketball in the country and go back to the top of the zone and eventually, Africa,” the tactician continued.
The veteran tactician believes that Kenyan teams need to continue investing in good players if the league is to keep up with the best in the continent.
