ANTANANARIVO (Afrobasket) - There is a new champion of Africa.

Tunisia, and not Angola, will represent the continent as Afrobasket gold medalists at the London Games.

Since 1989, the Angolans had won 10 of the 11 gold medals at that Afrobaskets played but on Sunday at the Palais des Sports in Antananarivo, Madagascar, that remarkable run came to an end with a 67-56 defeat to Tunisia.

Angola and Nigeria will be among the 12 teams going for three places that will be on offer for the London Games at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Nigeria ensured their presence at the qualifying tournament with a 77-67 triumph over Ivory Coast in the bronze-medal game.

Angola veteran Eduardo Mingas shrugged his shoulders after his team's loss in the title game to Tunisia.

"We played their our best," he said, "but if you are to ask me what went wrong, I only can tell you that I do what I am asked to do.

"Now we go home and reflect on what didn't work."

What went wrong is that Angola didn't stop Tunisia point guard Marouan Kechrid, who had a game-high 21 points and also handed out two assists and grabbed seven rebounds.

The performance helped Tunisia win for the seventh time in as many games at the Afrobasket.

The way the game started, Tunisia, who like Angola played at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey last year, played as if they were hell bent on avenging their defeat to Angola in the Semi-Finals two years ago in Libya.

They led by as many as 22 points in the first half, with Amine Rzig's three-point play stretching their advantage to 37-15 midway through the second quarter.

Angola looked dead and buried, but they weren't.

Joaquin Gomes scored seven of Angola's points as they outscored Tunisia 14-3 up to half-time to trim the deficit to 40-29.

The defending champions had hope.

But they got no close than 10 points in the second half.

While Angola's Carlos Morais had 17 points and five rebounds, the man that everyone was talking about after was Tunisia seven-footer Salah Mejri.

He dominated on the interior, finishing with a game-high 15 rebounds.

Mejri walked away with the Afrobasket MVP award.

Angola's bench was not as effective as it has been in previous games, contributing only with 15 points and five rebounds.

Ambrosio Felizardo and Leonel Paulo both fouled out.

The defeat capped a topsy-turvy Afrobasket for Angola.

The team suffered a rare defeat in an 85-78 setback to Senegal, removed coach Michel Gomez before the Quarter-Finals and promoted Jaime Covilhã to the top job, and had an incredible come-from-behind, overtime triumph over Cameroon to reach the Semi-Finals.

With Angola's authorities funding the travel of 500 fans to Madagascar to support the team, the Angolans had a chance to claim another famous title.

They come up short, though, after falling in the biggest game to very deserving winners, Tunisia.

FIBA