Team funding top of agenda as officials meet

Kenya women’s basketball team could, after all, compete in Afro Basket championships in Bamako in September.

Kenya Basketball  Federation treasurer, Peter Orero, on Tuesday said the federation held a successful meeting with Sports Ministry officials early in the week to enable them release funds to facilitate the trip to Bamako.

Orero said Sports Ministry officials are open to fully sponsoring the women’s team, with a final confirmation due in two weeks.

“We had a successful meeting with the government  and we may send the team to Bamako in September  because they showed willingness to sponsor the trip  which will also include calling up our foreign-based players as was demanded by Fiba,” Orero said.

Last Month, a top official of Fiba Africa gave the Kenya Basketball Federation tough conditions before the country could get a wild card to feature in Afro Basket championships.

Fiba Africa’s Julien Farran demanded that  Kenya commits to field her foreign-based women basketball players for the championships before the country could be given the only wild card available in Group ‘A’ of the championships, which also has hosts Mali, Cameroon, Tunisia, Cote D’Ivioire  and Angola.

Group B of the championships which is slated for mid September has Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Guinea, Mozambique and a team from Zone Four. Julien had said that Kenya has many talented players in the diaspora whom he felt  could  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 very big difference. This is why we are holding onto the wildcard until we get such commitment from Kenya,” he said at the time.