L. MathekaWamukota, Gundo expected in camp as World Cup qualifier preps heat up
Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 16.02.22. | 14:06
USA-based Onyango was the first diaspora player to join camp last week.
National men's basketball team, Kenya Morans, hit residential camp this week in preparation for the FIBA World Cup African qualifiers scheduled for 25 to 27 February.
Under returning tactician Cliff Owuor, the squad is expecting foreign-based duo of Tom 'Bush' Wamukota and Ronnie Gundo to link up with the local based contingent on Thursday 17 February as confirmed by the coach.
The AfroCAN silver medalists are in group D that has Senegal, Egypt and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"We have little time to prepare and while the key to success in any competition is good preparation, we will make use of the time we have. Many of he squads we are up against get just as much time to prepare so our situation is not unique.
I have the local based players in camp and we are expecting Wamukota and Gundo. The rest will join us Dakar," Owuor offered.
While the tactician could not confirm the diaspora players that would be linking up with the team in Senegal, he says that training is going on well. "We are working on our shots and other technical aspects of our game. Most of these players have been active in the league so they are fit," he said.
USA-based Orion Onyango was the first diaspora player to join camp last week and has been training with the Kenyan-based legion in non-residential camp.
The process of qualification that began in November last year has 16 teams divided into four groups with four teams each.
Each team will face the other three teams in their group in two tournaments played over three event windows. The teams will play three games in each window. These nine-day windows started in November 2021 with the second set for February 2022 and June 2022.
The top three teams from each group will advance to the Second Round of the African Qualifiers. Here, the group’s three advancing teams will join three other teams to create two six-team groups. All teams will carry over their results from the First Round.
In the Second Round, each team will play each new team in their group during two tournaments played over two event windows schedule in August 2022 and February 2023.
At the end of these additional six games per team, the two top teams in each group, along with the best third-placed team, will qualify to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023
