SHEFFIELD, (Júlio Chitunda's African Message) - Unlike other parts of the continent, Africa's Indian Ocean islands are losing basketball ground.

Last week's official wild card allocation by FIBA Africa was received with loud cheers in both Mali and Rwanda. But, in the Seychelles it received angry boos. In fact, the decision to invite Mali and Rwanda raised more questions than answers as it is unknown the criteria used to decide why, how, when and who should be invited to play at the Afrobasket.

The Seychelles were meant to host Africa zone 7 qualifying tournament, which could have included Djibouti, Comoro Islands, Madagascar and Mauritius. Instead their opponents pulled out.

The decision could have secured the Seychelles direct qualification to this year’s Afrobasket. However, FIBA Africa thought otherwise. As hosts of the 2013 Africa zone 7 qualifying tournament, the Seychelles were allegedly advised to compete at last month’s zone 6 qualifier held in Mozambique’s capital city of Maputo.

To make things worse for the Seychelles, they finished fourth in that tournament. And Rwanda - a zone 5 runner-up behind Egypt and Mali who finished third in zone 2 - were given the chance to play in this summer’s Afrobasket in Abidjan.

The 16-team Afrobasket is designed to comprise teams from the seven Africa qualifying zones. But, this year - once again - there won’t be a zone 7 team at FIBA Africa's flagship tournament.

In the last decade, Africa zone 7 has been represented at Afrobasket on two occasions as they failed to compete in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Madagascar appeared at the 2003 tournament, before they accepted a last-minute call to replace Ivory Coast as hosts the 2011 Afrobasket.

If the decision of snubbing the Seychelles is based on their competitive basketball level, then it will take a long time until we see lower-ranked African nations getting motivated to qualify for an Afrobasket, although this is already happening.

Three of the last four teams at the 2011 Afrobasket (Madagascar, South Africa and Chad) did not even try to qualify this year. No doubt both Mali and Rwanda are visibly higher ranked teams than Togo and Zambia, runners-up in Africa zones 3 and 6 respectively. But when Mali (3rd in zone 2) are offered a wild card over a qualifying zone representative, then, things become too unclear.

Although Afrobasket should be as competitive as it can be, small teams should be given a chance too. Whatever the competitive level of the Seychelles, they should have represented zone 7 in the tournament.

Last summer, host Cape Verde women’s team were in exact similar situation as the Seychelles. Their zone 2 opponents pulled out and Cape Verde secured direct qualification to this summer’s Afrobasket for Women to be staged in Mozambique.

Surprisingly, or not, last January - well before the official wild card allocation – Rwandese media reported extensively on the country being granted an Afrobasket wild card.

The Seychelles Basketball Federation’s chairwoman Sheila Ah-kong could not hide her distress. She told local media: “FIBA Africa has denied the Seychelles an opportunity to showcase its capacity as a developing basketball nation in Africa.

"By August (when the tournament tips off), we would have been able to put together a much stronger team than the one who competed in the zone 6 qualifiers in Mozambique," she said.

Surely, FIBA Africa have the right to invite whoever they want. However, the practicality of wild card allocation should effectively promote and encourage small teams to improve their basketball programmes.

South Africa were invited to compete at both the 2009 and 2011 Afrobasket. This year they have withdrawn from zone 6 qualifier. What may happen, though, is that the Afrobasket may become a repetitive showcase with the same teams, and almost the same title contenders.

Since the 2007 Afrobasket when FIBA Africa increased the number of teams from 12 to 16, at least, 12 teams have repeatedly shown up, and debutant teams are visibly in short supply, and zone 7 is badly affected. These latest events have just confirmed that it is never easy to please everyone, especially when someone’s feat is at stake.

Nevertheless, the 16 teams’ line-up shows some discrepancy as four qualifying zones will be represented by three teams against none from zone 7.

The teams qualified for this year’s Afrobasket are Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Rwanda.

Júlio Chitunda

FIBA

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