Khalaf headlines Egypt roster for World Cup Qualifiers
LUANDA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers) - Eighteen year old Ahmed Khalaf is over the moon following his inclusion in the 12-man Egypt roster for the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers Group A scheduled for November 24-26 in Angola.
Commonly known as "Bebo", the 6ft9in forward is not hiding his excitement to finally feature on the senior team after helping Egypt finish 12th at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017 held in Cairo in July.
"I am so excited about this opportunity. It was a surprise. I thought that maybe this will happen in two or three years because I am young and Egypt has very good players playing outside the country and even in Egypt." - Khalaf
In an exclusive interview with FIBA.basketball, the Spain-based Khalaf admitted that he does not want to stop at participating at this tournament but wants to be a regular on the national side.
He said, "I want to continue being apart of the senior team and that is why I want to play very well at this tournament so that I am a regular player. I do not want to go back to my club in Spain and I am forgotten."
"I want to be in the national team every year for every game. They called me and said that the forwards are injured so they need me. I am not afraid. I need to show what I am capable of doing. I want to be better."
| Egypt 12-player final roster for FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers | |||
| Youssef Aboushousha | Abdelfadeel Abdelfadeel | Amr Abdelhalim | Ahmed Bakr |
| Ibrahim Elgammal | Hussein Gunady | Omar Hussein | Ahmed Khalaf |
| Haytham Khalifa | Eslam Mohamed | Mido Mohamed | Omar Oraby |
Egypt head coach Amr Abouelkhir has named six players from his FIBA AfroBasket 2017 squad including Ibrahim Elgammal, Ahmed Bakr, Abdelhalim Ramy, Haytham Khalifa and Youssef Aboushousha who he believes will bring experience to their campaign.
Abouelkhir, who has also given a chance to teenage sensation Khalaf, is thinking about the future as Egypt continues to search for a place at the helm of African basketball.
"I was so excited about this opportunity. It was a surprise. I thought that maybe this will happen in two or three years because I am young and Egypt has very good players playing outside the country and even in Egypt," Khalaf explained in an emotional statement.
Egypt open their account against the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday at 14:30 GMT.
FIBA
