Warriors begin camp ahead of BAL

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men's league defending champions who are the Kenyan representative to next year's Basketball Africa League (BAL), Ulinzi Warriors, begun their residential camp on Wednesday, 13 October in Mombasa. 

Scheduled to play teams from Madagascar, South Sudan and Ethiopia in the first qualification round, the military side chose Mombasa as it gives them a chance to acclimatise to the conditions expected in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where the Group D and E matches will be held. 

"We have to be ready for anything and the first responsibility is to make sure all players are ready for the coastal heat of Dar es Salaam, hence the decision to go for low altitude training. The residential camp also gives us a chance to work on any loose ends in our game without any distractions and have the players focused on the task ahead.

"We will have two training sessions on the court in the initial days of camp but as the travel date approaches, it is important to focus on having the players mentally ready and relaxed so we will be keen not to overtrain as it could have its disadvantages during the competition," said coach William Balozi. 

Pooled in Group D, Warriors play Madagascar's Association Sportive de la Commune Urbaine de Toamasina, commonly known as ASCUT, Cobra Sport of South Sudan and Hawassa City of Ethiopia. 

While Warriors are making their debut in the competition, Cobra Sport already have some experience, having played in the 2020 BAL qualifiers. The South Sudanese side was pooled alongside Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in last year's qualifiers.

In what was their first continental club competition appearance, Cobra finished third in the first round and did not advance to the next round. 

Similarly, Ethiopia's Hawassa will be making a return to the BAL qualifiers and to Dar es Salaam where they played the inaugural BAL qualifiers in a group that had Patriots BBC of Rwanda, City Oilers of Uganda, JKT Basketball Club of Tanzania, Brave Hearts of Malawi and Dynamo BBC of Burundi but did not make past the first qualification stage. 

Against ASCUT, Balozi's men will have their work cut out as the Malagasy side beat Gendarmerie Nationale Basketball Club (GNBC) who featured in the inaugural BAL to be crowned Madagascar champions for a chance to play in the BAL 2022 qualifiers. 

ASCUT won their first national championship in 2008 and later had a four-peat with consecutive championships from 2011 to 2014. This year, they won their sixth title. 

"The only team we have some experience playing against is the South Sudanese side. Most of their players were part of the team we went up against during the East African Military Games in 2019. We will, however, be ready for all three teams," added Balozi.