Wheelchair basketball team cry for more opportunities after tough outing at African Championships

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 2, 2026 – National women’s wheelchair basketball team coach Sarah Libese has called for more playing opportunities if they are to realise their potentially.

Libese says that playing regularly is the only way for the girls to overcome the pressure of competing on the biggest stages and blocking out the roaring noise of the crowds.

“With more games internationally, we will achieve our goal. It’s a process we are now undertaking that has a low begining, but a higher ending,” she said.

The tactician was speaking in the aftermath of a fifth place finish at the African Championships in Luanda, Angola on Wednesday night.

Team Kenya dismantled Liberia 65-5 at the Pavilaho Multiuso de Kilamba to claim their first win of the tournament in which they have been on receiving end of a hammering by Algeria, Morocco, South Africa as well as the hosts.

Libese says her team are still a work in progress considering many of the players are youngsters who are still trying to find their way around the big stage.

“The ladies are a work in progress. We are trying to integrate many talented youngsters in here, most of them have never been outside the country and have no international experience,” she said.

Even as Libese firms her grip on the steering wheel of the Kenyan project, her opposite in the dugout, Benedict Cole, admitted he had learnt a lot from their opponents.

“Our federation is only a year old, and so is the national team. This is our first international outing, so I don’t expect much from my girls, but I am out here to learn and Kenya has really taught me a lot,” Cole said.

Whereas it was a happy ending for the women, the men’s campaign continued on a downward spiral as they lost 48-38 to Egypt in their fifth-place playoff encounter.

The team have one more chance for redemption when they face Liberia in the seventh-place playoff on Thursday.  

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