Road to 3X3 Beach Games: Teams from Nairobi to take part in first phase of selection

Kenya national men’s 3x3 basketball team head coach Zaddock Adika has confirmed the first phase of selecting a team that will participate in the Association of National Olympics Committees of Africa Beach Games set to be held this year.

The 3x3 setup is introducing a Nairobi-based team event set to take place on 24 February at the Nyayo Stadium courts, that will provide a route for individual players to get a chance of representing Kenya in the continental games later this year.

The Tunisian city of Hammamet was on November 2022 confirmed to host the Africa beach games and will take place from June 24 to 30 this year. More than 1000 competitors from 54 participating countries are expected to take part in the event.

“We are calling up teams to register for the Nairobi event,” Adika told Mozzart Sport on Tuesday. “Teams taking part will have an opportunity to match-up each other and book a place into the Kenya 3x3 beach games in Mombasa.”

As per Adika, a national 3x3 beach basketball competition will take place on March 1-4 in Mombasa and will involve a total of 12 teams from all over the country.

The top two teams from the Nairobi region will join two teams from Mombasa that have already qualified and he hopes that other regions including Kisumu and Eldoret will host similar 3x3 events in order to widen the pool of players available for selection.

Adika also added that he also intends to have players currently playing in the 5 on 5 Premier League games in Kenya to participate – the reason why the event has been scheduled to take place on a Friday.

Kenya is also set to participate in the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games that will be hosted in Bali, Indonesia. The biennial tournament begins on August 6 to 12 2023.

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Kenya last year made history when they participated in the 3x3 basketball competition in the Commonwealth Games, where both the men’s and women’s teams reached the last eight before losing to Australia and England respectively.

Registration for the Nairobi event is free.