Nairobi City Thunder banking on home advantage to qualify for the Basketball Africa League

head coach Brad Ibs says playing the Elite 16 qualifiers for the (BAL) in Nairobi is a huge advantage for his team.

This, he said, gives the team an upper hand and it will be a dream come true making it to the continental competition in front of their adoring fans.

Kenya's City Thunder will take on Africa's elite basketball teams in the Basketball Africa League set to go down in Nairobi.

Ibs said booking a slot for BAL was one of the team’s targets last season and it’s time the club must fulfill that ambition. «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,» he told .

The Kasarani and Nyayo stadia will for the first time ever host the international competition. Thunder qualified for the Elite 16 after making it through the East Division qualifiers, finishing second to Urunani against whom 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 on the night of  November 29  in Group A, against MBB of South Africa.