Angola's Mingas retires from national team

LUANDA (AfroBasket 2015) - Eduardo Mingas has played his last game for Angola after featuring in the Final of AfroBasket 2015 last Sunday in Rades, Tunisia.

The 36-year-old announced his international retirement and will focus on his club career in the Angola where he last played for Recreativo de Libolo.

Over the course of the past 15 years, the 1.99m power forward has played a key role in Angola's continental success, having won four AfroBaskets.

Now, he says, it's time to go.

"It's time to give the youth of this country the opportunity to play for the national team," said the man who played in six African Championships.

In his last game wearing the Angolan jersey, Mingas had 8 points and 8 rebounds in under 25 minutes, but the Angolans were unable to avoid a 74-65 defeat against new African champions Nigeria.

Mingas, who has played in two Olympics (2004 and 2008), battled to help Angola qualify for the 2016 Rio Games, but the one direct qualifying spot on offer in Tunisia went to Nigeria as a result of them winning the African championship.

"I would have loved to have retired from the national team with another gold medal and play in the 2016 Olympics, but, unfortunately we lost [in the AfroBasket 2015 Final]," Mingas said.

In finishing second, the 11-time African champions have a second chance to qualify for next year's Olympics by playing in one of the three FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTS) along with the teams that came in third (Tunisia) and fourth (Senegal) in Africa's flagship basketball tournament.

The Angolans finished the tournament with a 5-2, and Mingas played a pivotal role in helping Angola beat hosts Tunisia 58-51 in the Semi-Final with a team-high 14 points.

It’s not end of Angolan basketball. It’s just the end of my national team career. - Mingas

"Angola has many talented players, and I feel that we are going to win the next African Championship," Mingas said.

The veteran who also has four FIBA Basketball Word Cups appearances, said the Angolans lost to Nigeria because they insisted on individual plays rather than team effort.

Meanwhile as Angolan authorities paid tribute to the runners-up of AfroBasket 2015 on Wednesday night in the capital Luanda, Mingas was gifted a new car  in honour of his services with the national team.

FIBA