KBF should take responsibility over poor Morans show -Gundo

Moran's star man Ronnie Gundo says the Kenya Basketball Federation(KBF) should take the blame for the team's dismissal performance at the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Morans bowed out of the qualifiers after a humiliating 86-54 blowout in the hands of Senegal in their final Group 'D' game in Alexandria, Egypt. They had lost all their previous matches during the campaign.

And taking to his Facebook account, a clearly disappointed Gundo who plies his professional trade in Spain says the federation needs to be held accountable for the inadequate preparation in the last couple of tournaments.

According to Gundo, competing at the continental level requires deliberate planning and preparation, and not waiting on government funding.

"Competing at this level requires deliberate planning and preparation. We cannot do things the same way expecting different results. Waiting on government funding is not planning," Gundo said.

The power forward says they haboured thoughts of abandoning the trip all together due to disorganization and planning by the federation but they dropped the plans for the sake of the flag.

"This last round of qualifiers was the worst one of all. Poor planning made us forfeit our first game. There were talks of us having to abandon the trip altogether, but the amount of sacrifice we've given to get here would not let us,” he explained.  “A Fiba sanction along with a few years’ participation ban would have nullified all the progress we've made. As Morans, we did what we could and we’ll live with the outcome given the hardships that surrounded this trip."

However, despite the setback, Gundo says he will always be proud to be part of the team that brought Kenyan basketball back to the international radar.

"When we got together in 2019, Our goal and focus was to make it to the World Cup/Olympics. We fell short of our goal. However, it is without doubt that great things happened along the way making the journey worthwhile.

Winning Zone V, making it to the Championship game of Afrocan and finally getting back to Afrobasket after 28 years wait to battle it out for a World Cup spot is no small feat," he added.

Gundo also thanked his teammates who honoured the tough call by showing up as well as his colleagues who could not make it due to matters beyond their control. He also extended his gratitude to the sponsors who stood with the team.

"We say thank you. Your support was highly appreciated. To our diehard fans, we say thank you and to our toughest critics, we say thank you as well," he said.