ReboundGH

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

1st -  SENEGAL

2nd - COTE D'IVOIRE

3rd -  EGYPT

4th -  MALI

5th -  ANGOLA

6th -  TUNISIA

7th -  MOZAMBIQUE

8th -  GHANA

9th -  MOROCCO

10th - GABON

11th - RWANDA follow the writer on twitter @ofoli_kwei

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.

follow the writer on twitter @ofoli_kwei

For the first time in over 50 years of existence, a Ghana Basketball Association men's team overcame almost every hurdle in FIBA Africa zone 3 and qualified for the AfroBasket. The national U18 side finished the qualifying tournament played in Abidjan with a 4 - 2 win loss record led by Cyril Clark and Abdul Mutalib. Ghana along side host, Cote d'Ivoire qualified for the 2012 AfroBasket U18 tournament to be held in Maputo, Mozambique from the 16th to 25th August. 

Here's a quick look at the team list (from left to right, top row first)

- DANIEL AYARNA

- ADAMS RIYAZUDEN

- CYRIL CLARKE

- JULIAN MORGAN

- ABDUL MUTALIB A.

- ABUBAKARI SULEMAN

- STEPHEN FOSTER

- CYRIL BANSAH
- MOHAMMED BAJIGAH

- TUNDEY EL-ALAWA

HEAD COACH: DANIEL SESU (in white pants)

Team Ghana got their first win at the U18 AfroBasket qualifying series currently going on in Abidjan. The Ghanaian team beat Liberia with the game ending 55 - 43. This time around, Stephen Foster had a team high 15 points, while Alawa got 12 points in just over 5 minutes of play.This is how the numbers looked like:

A Cyril Clarke led Ghana U18 side lost their first game against host Cote d'Ivoire at the Palais des Sports de Treichville indoor sports facility in Abidjan. Cyril had a game high 16pts and 6rbds while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Daniel Ayarna also had a game high 11 rbds for Ghana in the 33 - 54 loss. http://www.fibaafrica.com had the full story from the venue in their often poorly written English: