Kenya Morans land fair Group A in AfroCan
Basketball
By
Washington Onyango
| Jun 16, 2023
Kenya Morans journey to attempt to win the FIBA AfroCan tournament will begin on for July 8 to 16 in Luanda, Angola with a fair pool.
Morans who won silver during the inaugural edition held four years ago are in Group A against Gabon and the winner of the playoff between Zone 2's Guinea and team from Zones 3.
Kenya Morans are currently in a non-residential camp as preparations get underway for the.
Returning coach Cliff Owuor, who last handled the national team in last year's February window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers, makes a comeback and is expected to guide the team to another successful campaign on the continental stage.
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) named a 29-man provisional squad that began preparations on Monday, June 12, for the competition.
Hosts Angola will face Mali and a team to be awarded a wildcard in Group B.
Group C will be complete with Morocco and the winners of Zones 1 and 5 qualifiers. Reigning champions DRC were drawn in Group D alongside Mozambique and Cameroon.
Algeria and Tunisia will fight for Zone 1's solo ticket for the Final Round, while five teams will gather in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to find Zone 5's representative for the Angola showpiece.
Morans go to battle with a tough task of proving their 2019 exploits were no fluke even, as they face Gabon side ranked 25th in the continent, seven places below Kenya on the FIBA rankings last updated on Feb 27 2023.
The winners of each group will advance directly to the Quarter-Finals while the teams that finish second and third after the Group Phase will play the qualification round for the Last Eight.
AfroCan is the new competition of African national teams directed by FIBA Africa.
The idea of creating this competition stems from the decision to organize the FIBA AfroBasket every four years instead of two years as before.
It was therefore up to FIBA Africa to try to fill the gap that the national teams would have to endure during the four years between the last and the next edition of this competition.
AfroCan is opened to all players evolving on the African continent. In its format, this competition will give players plying their trade on the African continent the opportunity to showcase their talents.