Lionesses coach Mayienga anticipates tricky AfroBasket

National women’s basketball team, Lionesses, head coach George Mayienga says the upcoming 2021 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket Championship set for next month in Cameroon will be a tricky contest.

Lionesses were pooled in group ‘A’ alongside hosts Cameroon and Cape Verde, who topped their respective zones and Mayienga is leaving nothing to chance ahead of the championship which tips off on September 17 at the Yaounde Multisport Complex.

Kenya qualified for the biennial championship after edging out African giants Egypt 99-83 in the Zone Five qualifiers final held in Kigali, Rwanda last month.

“This is a different level, everybody is prepared. Our opponents were winners of their zones just like us so it won’t be easy. We will have to change our tactics and start early preparations,” said Mayienga.

At the same time, the tactician said they will hit camp next week but said the absence of players who are back to schools and places of work could affect his preparations.

“We are starting training next week on Wednesday even though some players have gone back to their places of work including students but they will join us later,” he added.

Group ‘B’ has the defending champions Nigeria who will launch their title defence against Mozambique and a team that will compete in the Zone Six qualifiers to be held from August 16 to 22.

2019 runner up Senegal, Gabon and Egypt-who got a wild card-will line up in group ‘C’ while in group ‘D’ Mali will face off with Ivory Coast and a team that will be selected by FIBA Africa via a wild card.

Zone One and Zone Seven qualifiers did not take place and therefore Zone B was represented by three teams: Cape Verde, Senegal and Mali. Zone Three was represented by two teams; Nigeria and Ivory Coast, Zone Four with two teams too, Cameroon and Gabon while zone Five with one team Kenya but Egypt from zone Five got wild card.

Nigeria is the defending champions of the Afrobasket championship having won the 2019 edition that was held in Dakar, Senegal.

In the first phase, each team will take on the two opponents in its respective group in a one-leg game.

The top teams in each group will advance directly to the Quarter-Finals. The teams ranked second and third will play the Qualification Round for the quarter-finals.

The winners of the quarter finals advance to semifinals, while the losers will play the classification games for the 5th to 8th places.

The classification game for third place and the final will be played on the last day of competition, September 26.