Expectant Morans off to Cameroon

National men's basketball team, Kenya Morans, leave the country early morning on Monday, 15 February, through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) through Ethiopia to Cameroon where they are expected to touch down just after 1pm for the Afrobasket qualifiers beginning February 17 to 21. 

Eight players and the two coaches, Liz Mills and Sadat Gaya, among other technical bench officials take the Monday trip with four foreign-based players expected to link up with the team in Cameroon. 

Long serving captain Griffin Ligare and his co-skipper Eric Mutoro lead the eight leaving the country on Monday. Other include Joseph Khaemba, Victor Ochieng, Valentine Nyakinda, Ronnie Gundo, Tom 'bush' Wamukota and Desmond Owili who have been training at Nyayo. 

Ariel Okal who left camp in the last week of training to attend to some personal matter will fly to Cameroon on Tuesday, 16 February to join Morans in final preparations for their three matches. 

Tylor Ongwae, Preston Bungei and Joel Awich are expected in Cameroon before Morans' first match which is slated for February 19 against Senegal. Morans play Angola on February 20 before facing off with Mozambique on February 21. 

The team is chasing at least a win to get back to the biennial Afrobasket championship. Kenya last participated in the competition in 1993 when Nairobi hosted the event. After more than 27 years, this is the closest the team has come to qualifying for the championship since then. 

"Morale in training has been good and all the players are aware of the task ahead. We are up against powerhouses in African basketball but we head to Yaounde with one mission and that's to compete and clinch that ticket to August-slated Afrobasket in Rwanda," said skipper Motoro ahead of their departure.