*Undated
The 2021 Kenya Basketball Federation play-offs will kick off on January 22nd 2022.
KBF competitions secretary, Joseph Amoko, yesterday (Thursday December 30th) said he is working on the soon-to-be-released draws. “I have completed the pairings following the final fixtures. I am now working on the dates from game one to the last,” said Amoko.
“It is now up to the teams to plan how to start preparing for the games once the festivities are over.”
Reigning national men’s champions Ulinzi Warriors and Kenya Ports Authority, who finished top of the table are the top-seeded teams. The soldiers will play Kisumu Lakeside while the porters have a date with Strathmore University Swords in the quarter-finals.
The other pairings will see KPA meet Eldonets, Equity Bank tackle University of Nairobi while Thunder will play Strathmore University Blades.
In the other women’s quarter-final matches, Equity Bank will take on Africa Nazarene University, Zetech University face Eagle Wings as the University of Nairobi Dynamites meet Storms.
Amoko also clarified that no player will be allowed to move from one team to the other until after the playoffs are over. “Any player who wants to move will only do so when the season is officially over and this is after the playoffs.”
He emphasised that transfer procedures must be duly completed before the move is sanctioned by KBF. He revealed that there are plans to reorganise the national league next year after many teams were forced out due to Covid-19.
The league got off to a smooth start in March but was rudely interrupted in the damning wake of a surge in Covid-19 cases. Even though competition eventually resumed in June, the fixtures will spill over into the new year for lack of time.
Reigning champions Ulinzi Warriors and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), who are fiercely battling at the summit of the log, remain hot favourites to clinch the title. KPA and champions Equity Bank are fancied to run away with the women's title.
National champions, Ulinzi Warriors, represented Kenya in the Basketball Africa league (BAL) with their first stop being the qualifiers that were held in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.
The soldiers got off to a torrid start, going down 80-74 to New Star of Burundi in their opener, but bounced back convincingly in their 52-47 win over Cobra Sport of South Sudan to progress to the next phase of the tournament. The next trip took them to Johannesburg, South Africa where they played in the Elite 16. After crashing 77-67 to Cobra Sport in their opening tie, the soldiers never recovered in their subsequent fixtures. They eventually bowed out of contention following their 81-59 loss at the hands of Ferroviaro da Beira of Mozambique.