Fiba talks tough over wild card for Kenya

Continental basketball body, Fiba Africa, has told Kenya Basketball Federation to guarantee the availability of her foreign-based players before the country can be given a wild card to compete in women’s Afro Basket championship set for Bamako in September.

Fiba Africa official Julien Farran has said Kenya must assure the Africa basketball body that her foreign-based players will be available before Kenya can get the only slot available in Group A of the championship which also has hosts Mali, Cameroon, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivioire and Angola.

Group B of the championships has Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Giuinea, Mozambique and a yet-to-be-named team from Zone Four. Julien said Kenya has several talented players in the diaspora who can easily challenge for an African title if assembled in good time.

“Kenya has talented players in the US who, if invited to play for the national, team can make a big difference so we are holding onto the wildcard until we get such commitment,” he said on Tuesday.

KBF secretary general Vitalis Gode said the federation was doing everything possible to ensure the players are availed, but asked the government to commit on the players airfare.

“It’s true that Fiba wants us to commit that our foreign based players will be available and we are talking to the government to see how they can help”, he said.

According to Gode, players such as Nancy Atieno Warioba, Brenda Wasuda, Zippy Khasoa, Linet Juma and Taudencia Katumbi are some of the players who could be invited if the tickets are available.

Other players in the diaspora include Purity Odhiambo, who is based in Bangladesh and Vilma Awino in Uganda.

Kenya participated at the Africa championships qualifiers in March this year, finishing second to Egypt, who booked an automatic ticket for the games, which will double up as the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers.

Gode appealed to local players to step up training while awaiting official communication from Fiba.