Rwandese teams beat Kenyans to qualify

By Oscar Pilipili

Rwandese teams reigned over Kenyan basketball teams, topping both women and men’s categories during All Africa Games (AAG) Zone Five Qualifiers to claim all tickets to the quadrennial continental show in Mozambique in September.

Rwanda’s men and women teams overcame Kenyans 76-44 and 57-54 in deciding matches that helped the tiny Central Africa country that is emerging as a regional sports power land in AAG.

Kenyans’ performance was widely expected especially after the players boycotted training on several occasions over allowances.

KBF ANGERED

The behaviour angered Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) who then wrote to FIBA Zone Five organisers requesting to withdraw the teams from the competition.

But Kenya National Sports Council (KNSC) stepped in and urged the federation to let the teams continue play because exiting the event halfway through could have attracted tough FIBA sanctions against Kenya, including a possible ban.

KNSC Vice Chairman Charles Nyaberi clarified that teams participating in the AAG Qualifiers are not under federations, but the Council and Management Committee.

The competition criteria allowed the top finishers to qualify for the AAG.

Although Kenyan women finished runners-up behind Rwanda, they had already earned an automatic qualification to this year’s AAG by virtue of finishing fifth overall in the previous event in Algeria.

FIBA ruled during 2007 AAG in Algiers that the top five teams in both men and women’s categories automatically qualify for the next competition.

The men have to return to the drawing board and come up with new strategies to make their presence felt in the continent.

The last time they played in the AAG was during the fifth edition in Cairo, Egypt in 1991. With women’s team still in AAG race, wrangling parties should bury the hatchet and start preparing for the multi-disciplined showpiece that is six months away.

Coaches should also advise the KBF appropriately on the best way forward, for example, drawing an effective training programme for the AAG.

A coach who did not want to be named suggested that most players in the current teams are over the hill and have little to offer Kenya in competitive basketball.