Kenya Morans and Lions of Senegal to clash in the first match of the Kigali window.
Following the approval of Kigali City to host the AfroBasket Qualifiers group A, B and D, Kenya Basketball National team, Morans will face the Senegal Lions on the opening day, Wednesday, November 25, 2020.
Kenya had to pass through pre-qualifiers and they recorded five wins out of five games against Burundi, South Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea and Somalia before they were drawn in the group of death in Afro Basket 2021 qualifiers. Kenya who ranked 21st in Africa will be up against Angola ranked second, Mozambique 13th and Senegal fourth in Group B, where the top three from the group will make it to the final games in Kigali next year.
Of the 19 players called up by Coach Cliff Owuor, City Oilers Center Mike Makiadi did not appear, however, the foreign-based players including Tyler Okari, Ronny Gundo, Ariel Okall, Desmond Owili and Patriots’ Tom Wamukota have all been called in this team dominated by local-based players. Robert Nyakundi is likely to miss out this qualifier due to personal commitment mentioned Coach Owuor.
Coach Owuor, who was with the APR BBC in Rwanda for more than 10 years, thinks that his good relationship with the Rwandan people and the fact that he has Patriots’ Wamukota and coach Ben Oluoch in the squad will give him the support from the local fans. However, no competent authority has announced that fans will be allowed to attend those games that will be played at Kigali Arena.
Kenya Morans will have a serious challenge in this group since the Lions have called all great players from Europe and the USA. A list of 25 pre-selected Lions for the November window by the head coach Boniface Ndong include Maurice Ndour, former New York Knicks Power Forward who currently plays for Rytas Vilnius in Lithuania. Boston Celtic Center Tacko Fall (2.26 m and the tallest player in NBA) and Memphis Grizzlies Power Forward/Center, Gorgui Dieng has been called too. Former Houston Rockets Guard Xane D’Almeida will not participate in this window while Utah Jazz Power Forward, Georges Niang, an American-Senegalese and long-anticipated to join the Senegal National team, has been called too. Niang’s father was born and raised in Senegal.
On the other side, Mozambique summoned a 16 man roster dominated by a big number of the champions Ferroviário de Maputo with 11 players.
In Angola, they are still focusing on the election of the federation’s president scheduled this month. The head coach Will Voigt has not yet announced his roster to travel to Kigali and It was rumoured that they would like to send Petro de Luanda (who is preparing for the BAL games scheduled for December) to represent the country with the national team colours given that the other teams have not yet started open training. However, Petro assured that they had not yet received a request from the federation in this regard. Regardless of this situation, Angola is a Basketball Nation with experienced players like the captain Carlos Morais, Yannick Moreira, Eduardo Mingas and a young generation of Silvio da Suza, Gerson Domingos and Bruno Fernando who currently plays for Atalanta Hawks.
The Fixtures of the 2021 Afrobasket Qualifiers Group B:
November 25, 2020
17:00 Senegal vs Kenya
20:00 Angola Mozambique
November 26, 2020
14:00 Kenya vs Angola
17:00 Mozambique vs Senegal
November 27, 2020
17:00 Mozambique vs Kenya
20:00 Senegal vs Angola
