After failures in earlier iterations of this competition, the City Oilers have yet to overcome the Elite Round curse.
City Oilers participated in the inaugural BAL in 2019 and made it beyond the Road To BAL round, but they were unable to continue past the Elite Round after defeats to Maputo of Mozambique and the Patriots of Rwanda.
Similar events happened in the edition following the first season, however, this time the Ugandan representative lost in the Elite Round because of COVID-19 instances in the camp.
The National Basketball League champion Oilers entered these qualifiers after defeating the Nam Blazers in a grueling game-seven series to win the league for the eighth consecutive season.
“The recent playoffs provided us with the best training. All individuals are in good physical condition. However, it left us with a few wounds and exhausted bodies. However, the players will still play through it,” according to Oilers Coach Mande Juruni.
Originally, Uganda was scheduled to host and City Oilers hoped to benefit from home advantage by competing in front of a home crowd and at a familiar location during Group C Road to BAL Qualifiers, but regrettably, Tanzania acquired the hosting rights.
In order to enter this tournament prepared and to give it our all, the team’s captain, James Okello, stated, “We have been practicing and the finals we played back home prepared us extremely well.”
Jimmy Enabu, an important point guard who suffered an injury during the playoffs, is not with the team that traveled to Dar es Salaam but the side has since added Trey Petty and Roebuck Germaine to the lineup.
The Oilers can win the qualifying round, according to Okello. His assurance is a result of how the just-announced national league champions won their championship.
City Oilers’ first game will be against Zambia’s Matero Magic on Friday, followed by a match against Burundi’s Urunani the following day. On Sunday, the Ugandan club will end its Road To BAL campaign against the host’s Army Basketball Club.
