The Nairobi Morans have emerged winners at the inaugural Africa City Challenge (June 11th -16th, 2017) that was held at the Nyayo Stadium Indoor Arena. Team Nairobi have been crowned East Africa Basketball Champions at the 2017 Africa City Challenge, after they beat Kampala Red Stars 71 – 49 to take home the top prize of $6,200. Kampala Red Stars took home $3,000.
At the Finals Tournament held last Friday night 16thof June, 2017 Mogadishu City came out third place at the play offs beating Mombasa City Sharks 92 -76 and taking home $1,600. The 5-day long sports event televised live on Kwese Free Sports featured the top 10 male All-Star players drawn from Nairobi, Mombasa, Kampala, Mogadishu, Dar es Salaam and Juba.
Speaking about their win, the Nairobi Morans coach (Ben Olouch) said, “We thank the Africa City Challenge organizers and all the sponsors for putting this monumental event together. It is the first of its’ kind in the history of East African Basketball and most importantly we thank the basketball fans for coming out to support us. We are so happy to win the East African title,” adding, “We put in so much work and it has paid off.”
During the tournament, acclaimed Kenyan rapper Khaligraph Jones, DJ Joe Mfalme, DJ Darlington and MC Samora performed at the basketball tournament that attracted hundreds of fans and celebrities alike who thronged the stadium to cheer their favorite teams.
The winners from the East African Africa City Challenge, Nairobi Morans, and selected city teams from West and Southern Africa will later be invited to compete in the Pan-African version of the Africa City Challenge tournament. This event will take place annually and is positioned to take advantage of the growing basketball interest amongst Africans across the continent..