The Kenya mens basketball team earned a measure of revenge by beating Somalia 72 – 63 in the 3rd place playoff of the Africa zone 5 qualifiers. The Somalian team had earlier upset Kenya 81-78 a few days earlier. Both teams were out of contention in qualifying for the Africa basketball championships.
Kenya had earlier succumbed to a massive 88-41 loss to Egypt. Granted Egypt is much better than Kenya. But such a massive loss is inexplicable considering that Egypt beat Uganda 70-57 and beat Rwanda 82-75, these are more respectable scores.
In earlier games, Kenya beat Burundi 71-63 and lost 81-78 to upstart Somalia. As a result Kenya once again failed to qualify for the Africa basketball championships.
The lack of youth development is still the primary reason Kenya has been lagging behind countries such as Egypt. The dearth of basketball courts is another key reason. The players of the future need basketball courts close to their homes to sharpen their skills.
Also as noted in the previous article, Somalians organized themselves, raised funds and flew in their overseas based players. Kenya has several USA based players who if added to the team can enable Kenya to compete with virtually any team in Africa. There are also players like Robert Nyakundi and Omondi Amoke who are eligible to play for Kenya. But these talents are not being utilized. Each year Kenya sends players to the USA on scholarships and once they leave, they never play for Kenya. This is the exact opposite of Nigeria which has suddenly become a basketball power by using their USA based players. Once again its up to the Kenya Basketball Federation to facilitate this. But few Kenyans are holding their breath because KBF rarely show initiative.
