Kenya Lioness ready to write history in Yaoundé

Kenya Lioness forward Mercy Wanyama in past action against Egypt.[Courtesy-FIBA]

Kenya national women’s basketball team, Lioness, will kick off their AfroBasket campaign against hosts Cameroon  in Yaoundé today as they seek to write history at the continental games.

Kenya are in Group A alongside Cameroon and Cape Verde and Lioness forward Vilma Achieng is optimistic ahead of the tournament. 

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) star player believes Lioness have what it takes to do better than their men’s counterparts Kenya Morans. Morans failed to reach the knock out stages in the recently concluded competition in Kigali, Rwanda.

Lioness had a disastrous performance in their last AfroBasket outing in Dakar in 2019 as they exited the tournament without a win.

“Our main focus is competing better than our predecessors,” said Achieng.

Kenya’s best performance at the championships came in 1993 where Lioness lost to Senegal in the final.

“No pressure. I doubt if there is pressure but u know as human nature we would want to achieve more not only being the Zone champions but also Africa which is our next target,” she added. 

Lioness head coach George Mayienga made two changes to the squad that won the Zone V championships which acted as the AfroBasket qualifiers by bringing in Ivy Opicho and Selina Okumu in place of Felmas Koranga and Cecilia Okumu respectively.