ReboundGH: FIBA U19 WC 2013

Showing posts with label FIBA U19 WC 2013. Show all posts

Angola's bench looking dejected during their loss against Turkey at the 2012 London Olympics

Contrary to popular speculations, African teams have been present from day one at both the FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball competitions; both times being represented by Egypt in 1936 and 1950 respectively. Over the decades, several African countries have followed suit and sent teams to participate in international competitions for all age groups and both sexes.

As exciting as it is to see African teams go on such trips, it cannot be denied that performance by teams over the decades is nothing to be excited about. The best performance by an African team at an international event was when Egypt finished 5th in the first ever FIBA World Cup in 1950. The most recent international competition that featured teams from Africa is the just ended FIBA U19 World Championship in Prague, Czech Republic. Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire represented the continent in Prague after dominating the African Championships in 2012 only to finish at the bottom of the table, both often losing games by as much 30 points.

These perennial losing streaks should have us thinking by now. If basketball has been played for as many decades on the continent as it has in other places, why are our teams still losing by this much and performing poorly at these events? Players, coaches, and national federations have to sit up and figure out a future out of this endless cycle of losing. What do you think we are not doing properly?

Tea and his team during a time out in Accra

The Ivorian national U19 basketball coach, Olivier Tea believes his team will perform well in the FIBA U19 World Championship despite the various challenges they face. He mentioned this in an interview after their game in Accra against Braves last week. Even though CIV are in Group D with international basketball powerhouses; China, Russia and USA, he believes his team and coaching staff has put in enough work to make an impact at the tounament. Tea replaced Blaise Amalabian at the helm of the young Elephants immediately after they finished runners-up at last summer's U18 Afrobasket held in Maputo.

The other African country participating in this year's event is Senegal, who are in Group C with Australia, Brazil and serbia.

Aviation Social Centre - A sparse crowd at the game venue watched on as Ghana's best basketball club side lost to the Ivorian national U19 side headed to the FIBA U19 World Championship in Czech Republic scheduled between 27th June - 7th July. The Ivorian team were in town for two days to get their visas for their contigent from the Czech embassy in Accra.

The game which started out quite physical ended with a 65-54 score line in favor of the Ivorian team. Braves seemed to have a hold on the game in the first half. However, the Ivorians' patience in execution on offense caused the not so well organized Braves defense a lot of problems often leading to open jumpers. The world Champioship bound team showed impressive skills in breaking Braves' full court presses, an ability that is a must have when venturing into a tournament with the likes of the USA and many countries that have superior basketball skill and knowledge. The Ivorians preparedness plus the lack of organization in Braves' game and a bad shooting day for Dodzie appropriately sums up the events of the day.

Many in the basketball community have shared opinions to the effect that this lose should be considered a wake up call to all involved in basketball in Ghana. Many expressed worry about the fact that our level of basketball is still quite low, condsidering our best team (who have not lost only two games in 10 years) got beat by a U19 side. Others were also of the opinion that Braves played very well, only that the Ivorians were a better team and that the lose should only be used as a motivation to work harder to improve our overall game.

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