Kiki rues missed chance as KPA post sluggish result in FIBA Championship

Kenya Ports Authority basketball team head coach Sammy Kiki has blamed his team’s  lack of effectiveness for their awful start at the FIBA African Zone Five Championship that jumped off at the weekend in Tanzania.

The dockers who are the Kenya Basketball League defending champions had a poor start losing 40-56 to REG of Rwanda and Kiki believes the results would gone the other way had their shots reached the target.

“Our shots were not dropping, we were not effective on scoring down that is inside play, we had unnecessary turnovers too,”Kiki lamented in an interview with Citizen Digital.

Team captain captain Samuel Ocholla blamed the defeat on jitters caused by stage freight.

“We played very badly; things did not just work for us. Our next game against EWSA is a must win for us if we are to bounce back.”

KPA who finished third in last year’s championship will be playing their second match on Monday evening against EWSA of Ethiopia and Kiki believes they can still redeem themselves by winning the next three games to qualify for the quarters.

Meanwhile, Strathomore Blades were awarded walkover over New Stars of Burundi who didn’t turn up for the match. Blades will now take on Oilers of Tanzania later on Monday too.

KPA are in Group A alongside JKT of Tanzania, REG of Rwanda, Smouha of Egypt, EWSA of Ethiopia and Cobra of South Sudan while their compatriots Strathmore Blades are in group B alongside Patriots of Rwanda, Oilers of Tanzania, Al-Ahly of Egypt and Wolkite of Ethiopia.

The competition has attracted six ladies teams who will face-off on round-robin basis. Champions KPA of Kenya will  play their first match on Monday against APR of Rwanda while their compatriots Equity Bank will face UCU of Uganda tomorrow. Other teams include JKT of Tanzania and Wokite of Ethiopia.