MONASTIR (Tunisia) - Guinea and Egypt are through to the Final of the 2023 FIBA U16 African Championship with victories over Angola and Mali respectively.

By reaching the final of the biennial African Championship, Guinea and Egypt also qualified for the 2024 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup.

SEKOU TOURE INSPIRES GUINEA TO HISTORIC FINAL, WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION

It's celebration time for Guineans all over the world as they have reached the Final of the FIBA U16 African championship for the first time courtesy of a 71-61 win over Angola in the Semi-Finals.

The win is not the only reason for the celebration. The West African nation  will also for the first time in the country's basketball history be making it to the U17 Basketball World Cup.

Guinea Coach Ibrahima Toure could not hold back his emotions as the clock wound down and he went on his knees shedding tears of joy the moment Angola gave up the fight.

20 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists from Sekou Toure led Guinea to history as the duo of Araphane Diane and Karanmadi Gassama poured in 12 points respectively.

Araphan Diane again had the most rebounds recording 18 and 8 assists and was instrumental to Guinea edging out Angola.

He told FIBA.basketball at the end of the game that credit must go to the coaches who kept instructing them on what to do at every moment. "This victory goes to our coaches and of course my teammates. It's nice that we have reached the Final and we're ready to finish it up."

Angola fought hard to go through to the Final forcing 13 lead changes and kept the score tied 7 times.

Ousmane Sanoh had a game high score of 21 points while Celestino Augusto added 15 points but the game belonged to Guinea who benefited from 25 fast breaks points against Angola's 18.

EGYPT HURT MALI TO REACH FINAL

Egypt reached the FIBA U16  African Championship Final for the seventh time thanks to a win over arch rivals Mali in a thrilling encounter that ended 66-58.

The pharaohs left no one in doubt as to their ambition of reaching their eight Final in this cadre.

They started off to a blazing start from the first quarter winning 17-11, conceded the second to Mali 14-12 but returned in the third and final quarters to win 19-18 and 18-15 respectively.

Egypt Captain Mohamed Wael had 21 points, 9 rebound and 6 assists while center Omar Essam, better known as 'Sasa', added 13 points and14 rebounds.

Wael said the victory is well deserved for Egypt and commended Mali for their gallant fight. "This victory is great for us and we're happy to have reached the Final and also gotten a ticket to the World Cup."

He added: "Guinea will come as difficult as Mali was but we're committed to winning the title and taking it back home."

Mali's Alassane Doucoure finished with a team-high of12 points and 8 rebounds.  He was joined by Sidy Toure, Ouwa Camara and Mahamadou Diop with 10 points apiece.

Egypt will now face Guinea in the Final.

FIBA