Nairobi City Thunder head coach Brad Ibs says playing the Elite 16 qualifiers for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) in Nairobi is a huge advantage for his team, and adds that qualifying for the final tournament infront of the home funs will be a dream come true.
The Kasarani and Nyayo stadia will for the first time ever host the international competition, and speaking exclusively to marvelbetgames.com, Ibs says this will give his side a massive advantage.
I think this will be a dream come true for us and the boys as well as the country and organization, qualifying infront of our home fans. We set this out from last season when we started that our aim is to become the first ever Kenyan team to qualify for BAL and we will work hard to ensure that we do it.
Thunder qualified for the Elite 16 after making it through the East Division qualifiers, finishing second to Urunani against who they lost by half a basket. Ibs says playing at home will be positive pressure, which will spur them to success.
This will be really positive pressure and the kind we need. Having the home crowd back us up will give the necessary energy to the players. We are ready, we have trained and prepared well and will give a good performance.
Thunder start their campaign Thursday night in Group A, against MBB of South Africa.
