The Swahili Pot Hub Shine In Red Bull Half- Court Mombasa Edition

Mombasa, Kenya – A total of 48 teams registered for the Mombasa qualifiers with teams fighting for a slot to represent the country in the world Finals to be held in New York, United States.

The Swahili pot hub men's and women's teams and the Smurfs were crowned the winners of Mombasa Edition of the Red Bull half-court competition that was held in Mombasa.

The Mombasa finalists will face winners from other regions across the country in the Nairobi national finals slated for June 6th in the build-up to the world finals to be held in October this year in New York, United States.

This year’s competition attracted 48 participating teams from the Mombasa region which is a testament to Red Bull’s impact in mobilizing basketball in the country. In total 15 ladies’ teams registered in the competition while a total of 33 men's teams were represented.

The ladies’ courts were a showcase of real talent and grit in all matches leading to the quarter-finals that saw the Smurfs outscore the night Owls 16-5 in a competitive match that was decided on the strength of the defences. In the same court, bullets tussled it out with Kaya Tiwi and lost by only a point setting a hotly contested semi-final with the Smurfs. Storms beat Amazon 7-6 which saw them clash with Swahili pot hub who had earlier beaten City Flippers 14-5.

In the semi-finals the Smurfs came out guns blazing and had a period where they kept hitting their opponent’s Kaya-Tiwi with three-point shots to see the score-line stand at 12-7 at the final whistle. Swahili Pot Hub withstood tough competition in the second semi-final match which saw them win by win by 9- 2.

The men’s competition delivered as expected with the group stages an indicator of what was to come in the final stages. Court one quarter finals saw Moischers B pitted against Mtopanga a closely contested game that ended 10 – 07 in favor of the Moichers B. In the same court Wintendo beat Best team 11- 13. Court two was no different with the teams putting up spectacular defensive displays that saw Mbaraki warrior’s vs KCNP end in a close 09- 07. The Moischers A-team was no match for a well-prepared Swahili pot hub that punished them 06- 13 exposing their defensive abilities and capitalizing on it to on the day.

The semi-finals were hard to predict as most teams looked favourites to proceed to the finals. In the first semi-final, Moischers B beat the best team 12- 07 with the Swahili pot hub meeting a worthy competitor in Mbaraki warriors in a game that had fans on their feet for the entire ten minutes ending at a close 14-11. Swahili pot hub sensing the danger of losing out at this stage switched their gears a notch higher and showcased their prowess in the finals punishing Moichers B 18-08.

Speaking after the competition Faith Adhiambo Oduor the captain of the Swahili pot hub ladies’ team expressed her joy at emerging top in the competition and promised to work even harder with their eyes fixed on the national finals.

“It was not easy winning this competition today. We are going to work even harder in our practice in preparation for the national finals in Nairobi. The weather in Nairobi is different from what we have here so we are going to do a lot of running in our practice’’

She further thanked Red Bull half-court organizers for putting the competition together adding that in a few years, ladies' basketball will grow competition because of initiatives like this.

Ali Hilmi the Vice president of the Kenya Basketball Federation noted that despite the low number of female teams, the number this year from the Mombasa region was higher than last year which was an indication of the impact of the initiative to identify and nurture basketball talent in the country.

“When you look at the numbers of the female teams, they are lower than the male players. What is important to note though is that that number is higher than what we recorded last year. This goes to show that in years to come the numbers will continue to increase.  

On her part May Mbeyu a referee at the tournament thanked Red Bull for supporting the half-court competition each year noting that its impact had been fully felt in the country.

“I have seen a lot of skills on display today, especially from the ladies. Red Bull has helped us see this talent and some of these ladies will surely go far in this competition.’’ she noted.

This year will be the third time Kenya will be making an appearance in the World Finals. The staging of the games which will be held in New York, United States.