Okal signs with Oman’s Al Bashaer Club

Kenya Morans forward Ariel Okal is headed back to Oman where he will feature for his third club, AlBashaer Club, in the Western Asia country that jumped off his professional basketball career in 2015. Okal joins the new kids in the Oman league for the 2021 season that started on Friday, 12 February, and is set to conclude in four months.

“This is a new club with no titles so we are chasing our first in basketball. The franchise had other sports but were yet to venture into basketball. Despite being a new club, they have assembled an all-star squad. We all have played against each other or for the same teams and now we have come together and are looking for the chemistry to see us fight for the championship,” said Okal while breaking the news.

While it may look like a herculean task for new entrants to dominate in a professional league, Okal feels that the team has been structured for a win in their first attempt as that will give them a better chance to defend the title in the next season.

The 30- year old had signed a six-month contract, running until July 1, 2020, with Algeria’s top tier side (ABC National 1) US Setif. He joined in February 2020, after taking part in the Afrobasket pre-qualifiers with the national team in January last year, and after only four matches the league was suspended on March 16. 

“My contract with Setif expired while the country was still under lockdown due to Covid-19 and since Algeria is still hit hard by the pandemic, I felt it was time to move on. We parted ways on good terms and after weighing my options as there was interest from Uganda, Tunisia and my former clubs in Oman, I settled for the newsboys,” explained Okal.

Okal tried to block Eric Mutoro's attempt at the basket during a training session at Nyayo :Photo courtesy

The former Nakuru Club first joined the Mombasa-based multiple local champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in 2014, while still in college. After a season with KPA, he landed his first professional stint with Oman’s Ahli Sidab for two seasons from 2015 to 2017. He came back to KPA for the 2018 season after which he landed a deal in Seychelles with PLS Hawks.

In 2019 he returned to Oman where he featured for Dhafor for a season before returning home. KPA were bundled out of the local league in the semi-final by eventual winners Ulinzi Warriors but Okal had hopes of playing in the Basketball African League(BAL) where KPA were the representatives.

He left Oman on Tuesday morning for Cameroon, having completed his medical tests, where he is part of the Morans squad chasing a ticket to the Afrobasket.