The Kenyan basketball teams comprising of both men and women yesterday performed dismally in the ongoing FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations Basketball league 2022 tournament that commenced on Monday at Nyayo National Stadium.
The league organized by the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) will see the Kenyan compete with teams from Botswana, Benin, Rwanda and Uganda. During the pools finals the Kenyan women team went down on scores after losing to Uganda with 20-18 points.
In the hotly contested match, Kenyans led in the first 12 minutes but the lead was overturned by the Ugandans who took advantage of their long accurate shots.
Kenyan female player Medina Okot happened to be on the eyes of the Ugandans after scoring 14 points for Kenya against Rwanda where they won the match with a win of 21-15 points after beating Botswana with 21-12 points. Medina’s height and ability to rebound and block shots gave her an added advantage against the opponent teams.
According to the Kenya team Head coach Tony Ochieng, the girls were on their best spirits when they started the match and attributed the defeat to lack of composure, failure to do the right thing at the right time and not utilizing their chances well compared to their opponent team.
“The Ugandan team was able to beat us due to the fouls given to them but I promise this will not happen again,” said Ochieng.
The Kenyan men team lost against Uganda in the same final pool leagues in a match dubbed the East African Derby where Kenya was thrashed 21 -15 points by the Ugandan team with Denis Oduor playing an instrumental role in the match despite the loss.
According to Captain Martin Ouma the main challenge in the game was in pullings. “We have done better since every day is a learning day. We still have chances to win if we win tomorrow’s matches since we still have points,” said Captain Buluma.
At least, Kenyan men team won against Benin with 17-6 points while Rwandan team beat Botswana 17-13 points whereas Ugandan male team was humbled by the Rwandan team with 18-16 points, Rwanda became the winners of the day.
In women matches, Benin dismissed Rwanda with 21-19 where Chantal Kiyobe was named the best player in the match after scoring 11 points.
