Deaflympics: Going gets tougher for Kenyan teams in Brazil

Looking to bounce back from their losing start at the 24th Deaflympics in Caxias do Sul, Brazil, Kenya women’s basketball team coach Mary Chepkoi has urged her charges to get more aggressive.

At the same-time, the Kenya women’s football team coach Ben Bella has apologised to Kenyans for his side’s huge losses in their last two matches at the Games, and promised a better result against Poland.

The Kenya women's basketball, who are making their second Deaflympics appearance after their 2017 debut in Samsun, Turkey, on Thursday night went down fighting 97-28 to Poland.

The match was played at Sesi Centro Esportivo.

Kenya were outscored in all the four quarters – 30-4, 14-8, 29-7 and 24-9.

Coach Chepkoi believes they would have registered a better result if the girls were aggressive and capitalised on their chances.

“We could have done better if we scored the easy ones. We were poor in our finishing and also we weren’t aggressive enough on attacking the paint,” said Chepkoi.

“We have talked and are looking forward to improving in scoring and balancing the court to slow down our opponent’s transition breaks.”

Team captain Mercy Mideva said: "We ought to maximise on converting turnover , fast breaks advantage and bench points. We have learned that we need to work on our finishing more. We hove to rectify this for our upcoming matches."

Kenya basketball are in a tough Pool B that also contains powerhouse United States, Lithuania and Ukraine.

Group A comprises hosts Brazil, Greece, Italy and Poland.

Kenya were scheduled to  square it out with powerful USA at Sesi Centro Esportivo gym from 9pm Kenyan time (3pm local time).

Kenya set a target of finishing fifth ini Caxias do Sul.

They finished eighth in 2017.

"We don't want to set unrealistic targets by saying that we want to win gold or silver. We can look at a top five finish,” assistant coach Hilda Indasi said before the  team flew out to Brazil.

Their male counterparts who were Wednesday night white-washed 143-18 by US were yesterday scheduled to square it out with Argentina at Ginasio Vasco da Gama  gym from 6.30pm Kenyan time.

Kenya women handball team were also programmed to tackle Brazil at UCS Sede gym 12pm local time. Kenya lost 43-16 against Turkey in their opening match on Monday.
Kenya lost 8-1 to hosts Brazil in their second women’s football match on Thursday night at Estadio Estrela.

This was an improved performance compared to their 12-0 hammering by Japan in their opening match on Tuesday night.

Coach Bella believes the girls can perform better against Poland today from 8pm Kenyan time at Estadio Estrela.

“As the coach, I take the blame for our losses. I say sorry to Kenyan for that. We will not give up but work on our mistakes."

“Remember in our opening match we lost 12-0 to Japan, today (Thursday) we have lost 8-1 to Brazil.

“It shows we have made some improvement and we hope things will be better against Poland. Of importance will be ensuring that we do not lose by a bigger margin. After we face US in our last match, I believe we will have gained good experience needed to build this team," said Bella.

Only the five teams are competing in women's football that is being played in a round-robin format.

Saturday will be a busy day for Kenya as three other teams will be in action.

Kenya men handball team will take on giants Germany at UCS Sede gym from 6pm Kenyan time.

Kenya men’s basketball team  will face Israel 30 minutes later at Ginasio Vasco da Gama gym, while their female counterparts will come up against Ukraine at the same venue from 9pm Kenyan time.

Thursday’s  results

Women’s football:

Japan 12 Kenya 0

Brazil 8 Kenya 1

Women’s basketball:

Turkey 97 Kenya 28

Men’s basketball:

USA 143 Kenya 18

Women’s handball:

Kenya 12 Denmark 28

Turkey 43 Kenya 16

Men’s handball:

Kenya awarded a w/o against Cameroon