Thunder braces for fierce Umoja Battle in rescheduled KPL basketball showdown
By Bosco Magare, March 7, 2025Defending Kenya Premier League basketball champions Nairobi City Thunder face a daunting challenge against a revitalised Umoja side in a rescheduled top-billed clash at Nyayo Gymnasium on tomorrow night.
With Umoja bolstered by a wave of high-profile signings, including a Central African professional and several former Equity Dumas stars, Thunder assistant team manager Bernet Ojay, in an interview with People Sport, has admitted concerns over their opponents’ newfound strength.
“Umoja signed three-quarters of the former Equity Dumas players, who were a thorn in Thunder’s flesh during last season’s title contention. In fact, last season, out of a total of seven games, we defeated Equity Dumas by either half a basket or one basket. Even the league’s semi-final Game 3 against Equity was closely contested,” Ojay noted.
He further added, “With Umoja acquiring our former league archrivals’ players, I am sure they will bring their A-game against Thunder on Saturday. This is despite the fact that before rebranding, they lost matches against premier league sides like USIU Tigers, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), and Strathmore.”
“We expect Umoja to change their strategy during their game against Thunder tomorrow (Saturday, March 8) at Nyayo National Stadium Gymnasium. It is going to be the biggest match of the day,” Ojay predicted.
On his part, Umoja’s team manager Kuta echoed the excitement surrounding the match, stating, “It is one of the most anticipated premier league games. We are just going to execute our game plan and give our fans a memorable experience,” vowing that they are in the premier league to compete at the highest level.
“We respect our opponents, Nairobi City Thunder (NCT), because they are the defending champions, but Umoja is determined to wrestle the league title from them,” Kuta added.
Similarly, he averred that morale in the Umoja camp is at an all-time high following the team’s rebranding and the onboarding of a new sponsoring partner, Inter Management Group (IMG) – Kenya.
Additionally, Umoja boasts a squad strengthened by new, talented players from Equity Dumas.
“We have signed top premier league players, and we are particularly eager to see the impact of two of our most recent acquisitions; versatile Joel Ntambwe from Central African Republic’s Abeilles Basketball Club and Collins Osikuku from the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) basketball team, during our Saturday game against Thunder, which throws off at 8pm,” Kuta said.
He also highlighted Umoja’s reliance on a core of former Equity Dumas players to turn the rescheduled February 2025 fixture against Thunder in their favour.
These include team captain and guard Victor Bosire, power forward Clifton Allela, small forward Thomas Kioko as well as team vice-captain and big man Nicholas Ogundo Ogol.
Other formidable new signings Umoja will bank on include former NCT small forward Derrick Olang, South Sudanese shooting guard Marol Achei and existing Umoja players such as point guard Douglas Kivati, guards Kevin Mugisha and Jason Sakwa, small forward Tonny Okol, shooting guard Julius Adhiambo, and former KPA player Job Byron, who plays positions 4 or 5.
Kuta noted that with a galaxy of quality and talented Umoja players, tomorrow’s premier league fixture against Thunder “is going to be a full house, as it is the most anticipated match that many Nairobi basketball fans want to watch”.
“We urge fans to turn up in large numbers to witness the best match of the current season between the defending champions and title contenders Umoja. We also appeal to fans to attend our Sunday game against the University of Nairobi (UoN) Terrorists at Nyayo from 4pm,” Kuta urged.