KPA to feature in the newly introduced Basketball Africa League 2020

Victor Bosire (left) of KPA fight for ball with Eric Mutoro of Ulinzi Warriors during their men’s Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League playoffs finals Game two at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium on December 02, 2018. Photo/Stafford Ondego

National men basketball champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) left the country yesterday for the newly introduced Africa Basketball League qualifier, which jumps off in Madagascar today.

By the virtue of being three-time national basketball league champions, KPA was picked to represent the country in the inaugural tournament.

KPA head coach Samuel Kiki said he has high hopes of qualifying to the elite league.

“Our opponents are beatable but we shall not underrate any team,” said Kiki minutes before the team’s departure to Madagascar, adding that the tournament will be played on a round robin basis.

The dockers are pooled in group F alongside Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius and South Sudan opponents. The matches that run through to Saturday will be held in Antananarivo. Basketball Africa League will involve six national champions from Nigeria, Angola, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal, who have automatically qualified for the competition finals.

The remaining six will come through international qualifiers later this year, but each country will be limited to two teams. FIBA Africa has announced the 32 clubs across Africa who will participate in the Qualifying tournaments for the Basketball Africa League 2020.

The first round of qualifying tournaments were scheduled to run from October 15 to November 3.

Teams have been divided into six groups with the top two of each group, in total 12 teams, advancing to the next round.

An additional four teams will be invited to compete in the “Elite 16”, the second round of qualifying tournaments.

Four cities, including Bamako (Mali), Libreville (Gabon), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Antananarivo (Madagascar) are the hosts of the qualifying tournaments for the Elite 16.

The top six-placed teams from the Elite 16 will then join champions from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia to complete the Basketball Africa League 2020.

The BAL, which was announced earlier this year, is a partnership between FIBA and the NBA.

The NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America, the inaugural BAL season will begin in March 2020, with 12 teams divided into two conferences.