ALBACETE (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers) - Placide Nakidjim was huge for Chad during their Group A first leg games in last month's FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers, and he insists his team's best performances are still to come.

Chad returned home with a 1-2 mark and the 23-year-old finished with 11.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game to become the only player averaging a double-double in the first window of the African Qualifiers. Nakidjim also currently averages a tournament best 2.3 blocks per game.

Chad - who replaced South Africa in the African Qualifiers - led hosts Cameroon for most of their Group A opener, but the latter used a 10-0 run in the last six minutes of the game to win 65-60.

That loss left Nakidjim with a feeling of unfinished business.

"We only had 10 days of preparations, but we showed a great team spirit," the 6ft 9in (2.06m) forward said to FIBA.basketball. "We didn't feel any sort of pressure at all. We had fun playing together. And playing against Cameroon always gives us extra motivation. It's like a Real Madrid v Barcelona [a classic match in Spanish football]."

Chad are competing at a major tournament for the first time since the FIBA AfroBasket 2011

While Chad experienced some inconsistency, Nakidjim - who plays for Baloncesto La Roda in Spain's Liga LEB Plata - feels the second leg games against Tunisia, Cameroon and Guinea in June-July 2018 could be a game-changer for the Central Africans.

"It was a great experience facing those teams and we look forward to playing the second leg. Now that we know what to expect from them, we'll come back better prepared and stronger than we were in Yaounde," Nakidjim said.

"WHAT WE DID IN CAMEROON SHOWS THAT BASKETBALL HAS A FUTURE IN OUR COUNTRY AND WE ARE GOING TO PLAY OUR BEST TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING."- Nakidjim

When asked about Chad's chances of securing one of the five tickets on offer for African nations for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China, Nakidjim was hesitant to deliver any prediction.

However, he hails the chance of playing in the African Qualifiers.

"Basketball scouts should come to our country more often and see how much talent we have. And playing against the best African teams in the World Cup Qualifiers gives us huge exposure," Nakidjim said. "What we did in Cameroon shows that basketball has a future in our country and we are going to play our best to keep the momentum going."

Tunisia will host Group A's second leg games in June-July 2018.

FIBA