ANTANANARIVO (Madagascar) - Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), COSPN (Madagascar) and Djabal Basket Iconi from Comoros are the three teams that will compete for the two tickets at stake in Group D, in Antananarivo, Madagascar for a place in the Elite 16 round for the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

The three-team event gets underway on Friday, and finishes on Sunday, October 23 at the Palais des Sports in Mahamas. 

WATCH THE GAMES ON THE FIBA YOUTUBE CHANEL.

In this article, FIBA.basketball brings you things to know about these three teams in Group D.

Djabal Basket Iconi is a young premier, even though they come loaded with history, while COSPN and KPA are the elders here. Who could be the surprise guest to the Elite 16 ? Can COSPN make it through to the next round? Fiba.basketball tells you more about each team so you can make up your mind ahead of the games.

Club Omnisports de la Police Nationale - COSPN (Madagascar)

Elly Randriamampionona

They are the hosts of the tournament, and as such, will be followed closely by the fans.

The locals have a group of players who have been together for quite a while. So this is a positive point for them as they will contend for one of the two tickets that are at stake in Group D.

The COSPN roster presents some of the household names in Madagascar, such as Livio Ratianarivo, captain Guillaume Milisen, and the newly-enrolled sharpshooter Elly Randriamampionona, who came in from GNBC to lend a hand.

These three have been travelling together with the Malagasy national team and have developed some automatisms along the way. It will be quite interesting to see how they perform in the tournament, especially since they are at home.

They also recruited some foreign players. One of them is RaShawn Joel Langston, who hails from the US. He will have the responsibility to guide COSPN on the right track as they will battle against their opponents.

As for the coach, Jean de Dieu Randrianarivelo, he has only joined the club during the past year. He wants to bring the team to the BAL finals next year.

COSPN have been crowned champions of the FIBA Africa Zone 7 Championship back in 2018, with Ratianarivo taking home the tournament's MVP title.

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) (Kenya)

They are the current Kenya national champions and can be seen as solid contenders for one of the two tickets that are at stake for the Group D of the Road to BAL 2023.

While they missed the previous BAL campaign after they lost the Kenyan national title to their rivals Ulinzi Warriors, they are now back to the continent's flagship competition and wish to leave a mark.

There's quite some history linking KPA to the continent. In the early 2000s, they entered the FIBA Africa Champions Cup in Luanda, Angola.

In more recent years, they were entered in the Group F of the BAL Qualifiers in November 2019. They topped the group with a perfect 4-0 record. 

They even made the news when they broke Ferroviario de Maputo’s winning run with a 79-67 victory over the Maputense. As coach Samuel Kiki has it, they are "a very strong team. But every game is very important to us."

He goes on to name some of his key players "that can make a difference on the court". He cites Tony Townsend, Ariel Okall and Kennedy Wachira.

To guide these men, Samuel Kiki. A former player of the KPA, who made it to coaching the team now. He is confident in his side’s ability to make it past the Group Phase and into the Elite 16. And he will watch with eager attention the first game tonight.

Djabal Basket Iconi (Comoros)

Founded in 1979 by one of the basketball pioneers in Comoros, Djabal Basket Iconi are the reigning champion of the archipelago. They have been crowned national champions five times and regional champions eight times.

During the past season, they have scored a perfect run, winning the championship while remaining undefeated.

They have competed at several editions of the FIBA Africa Zone 7 Championship. But for this Road to BAL 2023, they want to change the narrative of basketball in Comoros. “We want people to see that basketball is alive in our country,” says Soulaimana Mohamed.

He is one of the key players that made it to the Malagasy capital. “He is one of the most important players and we rely on him to make a difference,” say members of the club’s management.

The Comoros' roster is the youngest here in Antananarivo. Currently, the average age is 24 years old, which does not prevent the club's management from thinking they can make it to the next round.

For that, Djabal Basket Iconi have brought along a mix of young players who are discovering higher level basketball, and more experience players who will guide their younger counterparts. Their head coach, Fakri Mohamed, is considered as one of the best players of his time in Comoros. When he joined Djabal Basket Iconi, he brought along a winning mentality, with his side grabbing an unbeaten run in their local championship.

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