Kenya Morans, the men's national basketball team, suffered its first loss at the FIBA Africa World Cup qualifiers.
Morans, who were debuting at the tournament, were handed a defeat by Congo in the match that ended 56 - 66 in favour of the Central African country.
Morans, headed by coach Cliff Owuor, will be hoping to finish at least in third position in group D which has Egypt, Congo and the host, Senegal.
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The FIBA World Cup qualifiers are taking place in Dakar, Senegal and will run between February 25 and 27.
Kenya was without one of its star players, Fidel Okoth, as he arrived in Dakar late thus was not be able to feature in the opener.
Okoth had previously noted that he will do everything in his power to help his side advance to the 2023 world competition.
If Kenya advances to the 2023 World Cup, it will set the nation's history in basketball.
“My stats are improving and my game has improved a lot. I have confidence, even if the other nations now know our strengths following FIBA AfroBasket 2021.
"I believe that if we play with concentration and aggression, like in Mali during FIBA AfroCan 2019, it will be difficult to beat us.
" My confidence and understanding of the game has grown tremendously and now I'm more motivated than ever to be as competitive as possible,” Okal noted earlier.
Kenya's next match will be against Egypt on Saturday, February 26, with the two nations set to rekindle their rivalry with Kenya having beaten Egypt in the FIBA Africa Zone Five championship in 2019 when the two sides met. At the time, Morans booked a place in the inaugural AfroCAN championship.
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