Kenya Ports Authority men’s team will take advantage of the new Fiba rules that have been activated for the Basketball Africa League to punish their opponents.
Team manager Christopher Ogutu on Thurssday said preparations for the second round Eastern Division games to be staged in Rwanda from December 16 have started in earnest. He predicts a clean sweep, but expects stiff competition from Ferraviario of Maputo, City Oilers of Uganda and home team Patriots of Rwanda who will host the games.
Under the new rules for the Basketball Africa League tournament, Ogutu said Fiba allows participating teams to recruit a five foreign players as opposed to only two who are allowed in other Fiba tournaments.
Under the new rules, Fiba now allows teams to recruit two foreign players from outside Africa, two foreign players from within Africa and one naturalised player bringing the number of foreign players allowed to five.
“This is an opportunity we must exploit during the Eastern Division championships because we need an extra superb point guard and two polished post players to make our team complete,” said Ogutu.
He said the National Classic Basketball League play-offs will be a good platform for the team to fine tune ahead of the event which tips off in Rwanda from December 26.
KPA qualified for the second round of this tournament after dominating Group F games in Madagascar emerging tops with maximum eight points. They will now meet six other teams on the Eastern Division second round qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.