It's been a couple of days since they won gold but one thing is still certain for the Senegalese U18 team; they can still bask in the glory of being African champs. They, together with the Ivory Coast will represent Africa at next year's FIBA World U19 championships to be played in the Czech Republic.
Senegal finished the competition with a 7- 1 record, losing only to Egypt during the group stages and finishing second in Group B. The team finished the group stages with a 60.2ppg while allowing 53.6 against them per game.
Senegal had an easy game against host, Mozambique winning
62-37 to qualify to the semis against Mali as the underdogs. They beat them
63-47, then beat the Ivory Coast 71 - 62 in the finals last Saturday at the
Academica Stadium in Maputo for their first ever AfroBasket U18 gold.
The final rankings at the end of the competition for all participating countries looked like this:
Maputo 2012 - Final Ranking
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1st -  SENEGAL |
2nd -  COTE D'IVOIRE |
3rd -  EGYPT |
4th -  MALI |
5th -  ANGOLA |
6th -  TUNISIA |
7th -  MOZAMBIQUE |
8th -  GHANA |
9th -  MOROCCO |
10th -  GABON |
11th -  RWANDA
|
FIBA Africa website reports that three days into competition, the Democratic Republic of Congo's team has still not shown up in Maputo and have ruled out of the event. As such the number of teams participating in the event now has been reduced to eleven instead of the original twelve. Group A, which includes Ghana has now been reduced to five teams.
DR Congo qualified for the tourney after coming tops in the FIBA Africa Zone IV tournament, an event that just between them and neighboring Congo-Brazzaville due absence of other member countries not showing up. Other members of zone IV include Cameron, Central African Republic, Chad, São Tomé and PrÃncipe, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea
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| Coach Sesu and El Alawa in Abidjan. |
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As Ghana preapares to play in her first ever game in an African men's tourney today, there's no denying that two of the members of the team that went to the qualifiers in Abidjan will be missed. Former head coach Daniel Sesu and PG, El Alawa Tundey's contributions to the team before and during the Abidjan trip cannot be overlooked.
The two who had to leave the team under different circumstances, surely do still have some bad tastes in their mouths concerning the leadership of the GBBA.
However, though some might have questioned Sesu's methods as a coach, his ability to keep the team united, build passion and heighten morale cannot be put to the back-burner. Abilities he put on display during training camp and exhibition games before Abidjan. Team captain Abdulmutalib confessed in a chat, ''I wish coach was around, it would have just been nice''. El Alawa's speed and aggressiveness will be missed too. He's absence will create a lot of problems for Ghana at the PG spot. Cyril Bansah who will be playing a lot of the PG time is not as versatile as Tundey is but can certainly hold his ground any day, like he does when he features for Tema Youth.
Team Ghana will be leaving town today for Maputo, Mozambique to participate in the 18th edition of the AfroBasket U18 tournament. The competition has served as the stage on which many young African players, notably Hakeem Olajuwon and recently Serge Ibaka caught the attention of the world. As much as it's a youth event, the competition level is not for the faint-hearted and ill-prepared.
Considering the chronicles that have unfolded within these past few weeks of preparation for our team, Ghana could easily be classified into the ill-prepared category. The technical director himself has said on occasion that it would be unrealistic to talk about or expect any great outcome from this trip.
However, we need to be there; for the learning experience. A statement not many people will agree with but we still need to be there for that exact reason. We may talk of competing several times in zone three and having a GBBA technical director who has had quite an experience working with FIBA Africa as a game official during continental events. Talk could also be made of the national seniors women's trip to Mali for the AfroBasket women's championship in December 2011.Their performance there is certainly not something we would like this young team to replicate. But with all these, we've never had a men's team compete at the African level and nothing beats the experience of being there.
Whether or no this team ends up on the podium, Ghana should be a better basketball country after this trip. The national association should be a better organized institution after this by all means necessary otherwise we would have only done ourselves, fans and sponsors a disservice. Nothing will be more painful than tasting continental competition for once and knowing how exciting it can get and the benefits it can reap for young people then slamming back into our old ways and into another long down time.
It lies on all of us and most importantly the GBBA staff that will travel along this team to learn and be ready to implement what we learn. It's never an easy task; but it lies on us!
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The 18th edition of the FIBA Africa's AfroBasket U18 starts tomorrow in Maputo, Mozambique. Ghana's getting representation for the first time at the continental level. As much as a few members of the GBBA are working relentlessly to make this trip happen, there's no denying the fact that we (fans and persons close to the team) do not and cannot expect so much from this Ghana Squad of 9. The odds against us are just undeniable and any positive outcome will certainly be a fairy tale at best.
The team that represented Ghana in Abidjan has changed in many ways. First was the coaching staff that was hit with the quitting of the head coach, Daniel Sesu who with the help of Edmundo and Seth Okine had built the boys into a fine team. Stories abound as to what was the cause of his decision to quit. It has been mainly alleged that a misunderstanding between him and the technical director of the GBBA, Iddrisu Gamel played a vital role in his decision. Assistant coach of the Braves, Seth Okine was appointed to fill the vacancy with the shortest of notices that one could imagine. His workings with the team has been difficult. He has sited the short time span available for preparation as his main hurdle, which has made it difficult to implement much of his own tactics, and have caused him to continue with Sesu's systems.
The playing body was not left out of the ''quitting/MIA'' party. Tundey El Alawa and Julian Morgan will not be available for the Maputo trip. I think El Alawa's absence will give this Ghanaian team problems at the PG spot. His ability to attack defenses and take lanes will be missed. His role was vital even though he came from the bench as a backup. No one can forget his 12 point explosion in under 6 minutes in Ghana's second match against Liberia during the qualifiers in Abidjan. With the absence of Tundey and Morgan, Jibril Musa was chosen to fill one of the spots. As much as there could be talk of the non availability of a large pool of talent to choose from, pin pointing what Jibril brings to the team is a hard task even for me, who has seen him develop as a player.
Another problem facing this team is injuries. Suleman Abubakar(Big Time) has not been fully involved in practice for a couple of days because of a knee injury. Steven Foster Gadu, one of the teams best rebound grabbers also sprained his ankle over the weekend during a practice game and the captain of the team himself, Abdulmutalib reported into practice this morning with a headache.
Another major problem that faced this team with during preparation was the lack of a residential camp. When kids are commuting for hours on a daily basis to a national team practice, it definitely does raise concerns. The stress of traveling through Accra everyday takes its toll on anybody, not to talk of people who have had to go through several hours of basketball practice outdoors on a concrete court. Coach Okine mentioned this morning, that as a result of the lack of camping, he cannot expect much from these guys even if excuses made for lack of punctuality are not realistic. These guys have already sacrificed so much to get to this level, he added.
I would be ever willing to bet with any person as to whether the sports ministry knows anything about this Maputo trip. The general lack of interest in basketball by the nation's sport leadership is heartbreaking and discouraging for young players and anybody involved with basketball in Ghana. Especially at this time for this group of young men and what they have achieved in the name of and for Ghana. For any kid to go back home from a national team practice or trip with not even jerseys to prove him being part of the team is just unheard of. The amount of attention and care provided for other sports makes the effort this team, their coaches and the GBBA put in on a daily basis look like child's play. If for nothing at all this group of young men should be made to feel like the heroes they are.
