NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan teams are hoping to break into the inaugural 12-team Basketball Africa League, which will be co-run by the NBA and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and debut in January 2020.
Kenya's Ulinzi Warriors team manager Stephen Bartilol said here Wednesday that the military side has the capacity to become the first Kenyan team to participate in the Basketball Africa League.
"The strategy is simple, we intend to win the Zone Five championships in Rwanda in September to be ready in case that will be the criteria to select the Kenyan teams for the event," said Bartilol.
Basketball Africa League will involve six national champions from Nigeria, Angola, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal, who will automatically qualify for the competition. The remaining six will come through international qualifiers later this year but each country will be limited to two teams.
Kenya clubs Ulinzi Warriors, Kenya Ports Authority and Equity Bank teams have made huge signing hoping to dominate the league and secure the berth to the exclusive league, the first by the NBA outside North America.
Kenya champions Equity Bank coach Carey Odhiambo said, "I pray that they consider the Kenyan champions for the inaugural event, because our target is to win the league title."
Africa basketball governing body FIBA-Africa hopes the tournament will help improve the stakes of the sports in the continent.
FIBA-Africa President Hamane Niang added that it will have a spiral effect on Africa teams seeking their first Olympic medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
However, Niang did not confirm exactly how much the NBA would be investing in the league but said it would be millions of dollars.
