By Jennifer Amarachi
The Nigeria Basketball Federation has announced lists of participants for the FIBA U18 African Championship, which will be held in Pretoria, South Africa, from September 1 to 14.
The country will send 24 players (12 each side) to the championship, which will include 12 of the continent’s greatest national teams, including Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.
The participants are Bassey Ekpo Effiong, Ezekiel Oluwatemitope, and Sani Samuel lead the boys’ list, which also includes Azeez Sulaimon Olaitan, Daubuna Mutum, John Wilberforce, Precious Jonha, Duru Augustine Chideru, Abraham Boyce Hart, Kpee Favour Komene, Jovan Ojako Chiebuka, and Favour Ibe Ikedinachukwu.
The girls’ team consists of Pius Beggi, Shehu Khadijat, John Patience, Hembam Wandoo, Idris Maryam, Tewogbade Mololuwa, Umeh Amarachi, Isaac Abigail, Ayodeji Olarenwaju, Iwuji Vivian, Samson Favour, and Lijirin Doyinsola. According to the draw on August 24, Nigeria is in Group B, alongside Egypt, Angola, and Uganda, with the full tournament schedule to be announced later.
Teams will compete in a round-robin format during the group round, with the group winners and runners-up advancing to the quarterfinals alongside the two best third-place teams.
The winners of the quarterfinals progress to the semi-finals, while the losers compete in classification games for fifth through eighth places.
The classification game for third place and the final will take place on the final day of competition, September 14. The tournament’s winners and runners-up will earn the privilege to represent Africa at the next FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland in 2025. Reigning champions.
Egypt and Nigeria are the most successful countries, winning six trophies each in 22 years. Angola follows with four titles.
Madagascar hosted the last edition, surprising the basketball world by upsetting some of the continent’s household names before finishing second.
