CAIRO (Egypt) - Soraya Mohamed is the face of women's basketball in Egypt. She is the Modern Day Cleopatra and rightly so for her exploits on court that have lifted Egyptian women's basketball to the high table in recent years. 

Her profile is that of a young lady who is relentless, unstoppable and wears a never-give-up attitude on her sleeve and walks on court with it, shoulders high and head up to continuously make a case for the teams she plays for and dearly cares about - Egypt and Al Ahly. 

Ultimately, it is a story that has a writing on the wall. Her energy, perseverance and desire to throw everything on court is what her teammates feed off to level up to her passion and together they go for gold. The aim is the moon and if they fall amongst the stars, so be it. 

"I AM GREATLY SATISFIED WITH OUR TEAM'S PERFORMANCE. UNFORTUNATELY, WE DID NOT ACHIEVE OUR DREAM TO GO TO THE SEMIFINALS. HOWEVER, SINCE THIS TOURNAMENT I BELIEVE THAT WE LEARNED NUMEROUS THINGS AND THEREFORE IN NEXT YEAR'S EDITION, WE WILL COMPOSE OURSELVES UNDER PRESSURE NO MATTER HOW BIG THE PLATFORM WE ARE PERFORMING ON."- Mohamed

Egypt came so close to making the semifinals at the FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2019 but for a charged Mozambique side that defeated them 80-66 to book a last four place. 

However, they made a big statement in the Round of 16 against Cameroon as they registered a 68-63 victory after overcoming an 18-point deficit in the first half of the game. This mental toughness is what had onlookers give the Egyptians a standing ovation, a gesture that highly motivated Mohamed and her teammates to even set bigger targets at the continental event.

The 24-year old told FIBA.basketball in exclusive interview that, "We played an extraordinary match against Cameroon which made us reach the Quarter-Finals. We were down by 18 points but we began to focus in the last minutes of the third quarter and succeeded in winning the game."

"We did a tremendous effort in this game as we proved to everyone that the Egyptian team is a great side and we deserve to be among the top four teams in Africa. After this game, we decided that we will not accept to be ranked below the top four teams in Africa."

"Then in the Classification 5-8 Game, we lost in the last four seconds versus Angola. Angola is really a great team and they were African champions in 2013. So, for us to make an equal game with this great team means a lot. Since this tournament, I believe that we learned numerous things and therefore in next year's edition, we will compose ourselves under pressure no matter how big the platform we are performing on."

Mohamed emerged as the Top Scorer of the competition with 85 points to her name and Egypt was also handed the Fair Play Award. 

It is against this background therefore that Mohamed and her teammates believe that the 2021 edition will present an opportunity for them to even get better and climb higher on the ranking among the best on the continent. 

Egypt's best performance at this tournament goes back to 1977 when they finished second losing to Senegal in the final in Dakar and had previously finished third three years earlier in the Tunisian capital of Tunis. 

"Currently, there are more young Egyptian players playing in the USA than in the past. Of course, this is an advantage for the Egyptian national team. This will boost the performance of the Egyptian team in next year's tournament."

"All the players that were in the national team last year are great players, however, I think that by adding the players that are doing well in the USA, we can further help the national team."

Egypt have constantly struggled in the paint and were out-rebounded in all the six games that they played in Dakar - something that will need to be addressed going into future tournaments. 

Despite missing out on a Top Six slot that would have ultimately presented them with a chance to play in the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mozambique for a place at the final Tokyo 2020 Olympics qualification event in Serbia, Egypt made lemonade. 

Mohamed along with two teammates including Hala Elshaarawy and Nouralla Abdelalim went to the FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup in Uganda and claimed Egypt's first ever continental title in women's basketball. 

This victory shone a light on Egypt in a way that they had never seen before and it is such success that led to Mohamed and her teammates embrace a spring in their step and further understand the phrase "Impossible is Nothing". 

And to cap off 2019, the trio joined their parent club Al Ahly to lead the Egyptian giants to third place at the FIBA Africa Women's Champions Cup 2019. 

"As a player with Al Ahly, I proudly confess that we did a great job at the FIBA Africa Women's Champions Cup but this was not our target. It was the first year that we participate in this tournament and we performed greatly. We took third place and unfortunately we lost in the last two seconds in the semifinal game."

"We were joyful but of course we hoped for better results. The championship will act as a push for us. We gained a lot of positives from the tournament. Firstly, we played among a lot of great teams with multiple nationalities. Secondly and most importantly, we learned emotional toughness especially from the semifinal." 

For Mohamed, flying is the only option going forward as they look to conquer Africa as Egyptians and with Al Ahly at club level even though there is a pause on basketball at the moment as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic. 

"Although I miss basketball so much but on the positive side now I get to spend more quality time with my family which I enjoy a lot. I also have more time for myself to read books and watch movies and do home workouts as well."

With over a year and a half to the FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2021, Mohamed and Egypt have promised to come to the party readier than they have ever been. 

FIBA