History-making Thunder eye ticket to BAL season finale

After making history as the first Kenyan side to qualify for the prestigious Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nairobi City Thunder are now yearning to conquer the Nile Conference and qualify for the play-offs and finals to be staged at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.

They are looking to be among the eight teams that will feature in the 2025 BAL season finale set for June 6 to 14. However, they first have to overcome the Nile Conference challenge to secure their ticket to South Africa.

Thunder qualified for the top 12 contest after winning the Road to BAL Elite 16 East Division and will be out to continue with their brilliant.

They will face off with three other top clubs in the Nile Conference that will be held from May 17 to 24 at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda. They will be up against their hosts Patriotic Army of Rwanda popularly known as APR Rwanda who are not new to this level of competition.

They will also clash with Libya champions and winners of the West Division Al Ahli Tripoli and wild card beneficiaries Made by Ball Blue Soldiers (MBB) from South Africa. The South African champions participated in the East Division Elite 16.

Thunder has intensified its preparation in readiness for the tough task ahead. Head coach Bradley Ibs said that they have to train well because at that level of competition all teams are good because apart from winning their respective leagues, they also excelled in the qualification rounds.

“To be honest when you get to this level all the teams in every conference are just really solid and have high profile professional players. It’s going to be very competitive and hard fought and we just have to be well prepared in order to make it out of the Nile Conference,” Ibs said.

He added that all their opponents will field formidable squads but they also have a chance because they also have quality players, a great team culture and a technical bench that is equal to the task.

“I think we have a good chance because we are putting a really good roster together, we’ve got a great team culture and a great coaching staff. We will get into camp early to build chemistry and cohesiveness and that will help to deliver a connected team style of basketball.”

Ibs said that even though Thunder lost centre Ater Majok and shooting guard Abdoulaye Harouna who were key in their Elite 16 campaign to ASC Ville de Dakar of Senegal, they have found good replacements.

“We are very grateful for the contributions Majok and Harouna made to help us go past the Elite 16. It was great to have them, their contribution on the court were immense and it’s sad not to have them come to the team at the same time we are excited about the guys we will be fielding.”

He said point guard Uchenna Iroegbu and Will Davis who sustained an injury during the first round of qualifiers are back with them and they have also made key signings to fill in the gap.

Thunder have signed stars Paul Ereng from Les Hippos of Burundi, Evans Ganapamo Cape Town Tigers of South Africa and Nana Kwabena Appiah from Adam State University in the US. Even so, coach Ibs intimated that they are also focused on their local league players.

“We are excited about players that will be joining us, the preparations are good and we are more focused on the team that plays in the local league because a number of them will also be playing in BAL. We want to raise the standards so that when professional players join camp local players are ready,” Ibs said.

Should Thunder seal one of the tickets in the Nile Conference, they will meet successful teams from the other two conferences. The Kalahari Conference has Al Ittihad from Egypt, Morocco’s Fath Union Sport, Stade Malien from Mali and Rivers Hoopers from Nigeria.

Sahara Conference will feature defending champions Petro de Luanda from Angola, former winners US Monastir from Tunisia, Senegal’s ASC Ville de Dakar and Kriol Star from Cape Verde.