Morans coaches promise good results ahead of Ivory Coast opener

National basketball team assistant coach Abel Nson says his charges will be playing under ‘tension’ when they line up at the Kigali Arena court in the FIBA AfroBasket Championship for the first time in 28 years, tackling Ivory Coast tomorrow in their first group match.

Nson adds that as much as they ‘respect’ their opponents they are confident and are well-prepared for the task ahead and promises good results.

“We will have a lot of tension as this is our first game in 28yrs at Afrobasket. But we are confident that the lads are well prepared. Ivory Coast has our respect but we shall go out there and compete.

Our level of focus and execution shall determine our final result, we promise to make everybody proud by our display tomorrow,” he said

His sentiments have been echoed by fellow assistant coach Sadat Gaya who says they have studied videos of their opponents and are working on how to tame them.

“We have studied film against our opponents. We are going for a light workout on how we will play against them. Ivory Coast are no push overs, they’re tall physically,  if we execute our game plan we will get the desired results,” he said. “We are confident we will get the desired results.”

Morans will begin their campaign on Wednesday against the Ivorians in their Group C fixture from 10pm Kenyan time as fellow group members Nigeria and Mali collide in another fixture from 1pm at the same venue.

Kenya is ranked 111th globally and 19th in Africa while Ivory Coast is ranked 46th globally and 5th in the continent.

The FIBA Afrobasket Championship tipped off today and will run till Septem.