Maina slams officiating standards during KBF playoffs

Despite having already putt one foot in the final of the Kenya Women Basketball Premier League playoffs, Equity Bank head coach David Maina has lamented the level of officiating.

Maina took issue with the referees whom he said must up their game as poor calls could prove to be costly at what is the most crucial stage of the season.

“I am worried about consistency in officiating. My players rarely get into foul trouble but the referees seem to call a lot of those.

“It’s not a worry to me but it’s up to the referees to raise their standards. We can’t change how we are officiating yet we were not doing that in the regular league,” Maina said.

Equity won Games One and Two 50-45 and 66-58 respectively against Zetech University and could clinch a playoff final berth with one more win in that series.

Zetech University head coach Maurice Obilo however offered a different assessment as he defended the referees, saying they made the right calls and controlled the games.

“Referees are human beings like us, they make mistakes just as we coaches do sometimes. I really don’t think they were that bad, to me officiating was perfect,” Obilo said

Zetech need to win all the remaining three games to overturn Equity’s advantage and progress to the finals.

Games three, four and five are scheduled to play on 12th, 13th and 14th February 2022 but it could be settled if Equity win on Saturday.