City Thunder rock on...but they aren't done yet, as more arsenal set to join their artillery

After qualifying for the Elite 16 on the Road to Basketball Africa League qualifiers, Nairobi City Thunder team manager Kooshin Diriye says the team has a lot of work to do, noting that they are hungry for more energy as they bid to bolster their ranks.

The club recently recruited five new players before the first round of qualifiers and hopes to add two more players ahead of the second round of qualifiers.

 “It is amazing that we are now trying to move on all the way to qualifying for the BAL championship. This is nice, we have a good team, and we will get stronger than before, recruit one or two more players to push us over the hump,” he explained, adding that, “We will be ready all round for Elite 16 for sure, everybody is happy for our achievements so far and it's not just for me and the club but this is for Kenya as well," Diriye said.

Thunder qualified for the Elite 16 of the Road to Basketball Africa League qualifiers after finishing second in Group D on a 3-1 winning ratio in the first round of qualifiers that ended in Tanzania last weekend.

The national league champions won their last game on Sunday defeating JKT of Tanzania 86-63 to clinch one of the two tickets on offer for Group D teams for the Elite 16 round.

They qualified alongside Urunani who finished the competition unbeaten.

The Bradley Ibs-coached side are hoping to break the jinx and qualify for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) becoming the first Kenyan club to do so.

It was their first time to represent the country in the road to BAL qualifiers - registering another success in the Elite 16 debut. They have about three weeks to regroup and prepare for the final qualifying phase, scheduled to tip off, tentatively, on November 12 in a venue yet to be identified.

The national champions who were enjoying an unbeaten record since the start of last season had a target of going unbeaten but a  heart-breaking one-point loss to Urunani in their second match denied them a perfect run but they  are happy to be in the Elite 16.

In the last round of qualifying the 16 teams; will be divided into two of eight teams each. The eight teams in the qualifying tournament will further be divided in two groups of four teams.

Every winner in the four groups will qualify for the 2025 BAL championship where they will meet the elite eight to make it 12.