Kenya Lionesses, the national women basketball team was on Sunday night motivated by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed after qualifying for the FIBA Afrobasket championships to be staged in Yaoundé, Cameroon in September.
The CS hosted the triumph team who beat favourites Egypt during the Afrobasket Zone V qualifiers final in Kigali Arena in Kigali Rwanda on Saturday.
The team, which retuned yesterday was received by Amina who hosted them for a dinner said that she was very proud with their prowess.
Kenya beat Egypt 99-83, with Amina admitting that she watched the whole game that was entertaining.
Captain Rose Ouma said it was an honour to represent the country at the Zone 5 championship.
She said the meeting with CS Amina meant a lot to the team.
Lionesses’ coach George Mayienga said the CS gave them strength, before sounding a warning to other teams that will be at the AfroBasket.
Kenya National Sports Council official Charles Nyaberi termed Lionesses automatic qualification for the AfroBasket as “huge”, only coming close to when Kenya qualified for World Championship in 1992.
Kenya Basketball Federation chairman Paul Otula said the Lionesses had proved the doubting Thomases wrong.
The best two teams at the AfroBasket 2021 will remain in contention for a spot in 2022 Fiba Women’s Basketball World Cup. They will join Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, USA, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Russia, Serbia and Australia in the 2022 World Cup Qualifying tournament