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20 November, 2017
26 February, 2019
23/05/2018
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Egypt's Aboulkheir: ''We hope to make our fans proud of the national team again''

CAIRO (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers) - As they build up to next month's FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers action in Cairo, Egypt is set to play in a four-team international tournament in Bahrain.

From Thursday to Monday (May 24-28) the North Africans - who host the second-leg of Group C of the World Cup African Qualifiers from June 29-July 2 - will go up against hosts Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq.

Egypt coach Amr Aboulkheir sees it as a way to give his team a necessary dynamic to fuel their World Cup aspirations.

"We know it won't be an easy task to play Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco at home [in the Qualifiers], and that's the reason why we are playing a tournament like this. We need to be well prepared for our World Cup opponents," Aboulkheir said to FIBA.basketball.

"OUR FANS CAN'T WAIT FOR THE QUALIFIERS BECAUSE IT'S BEEN ALMOST 20 YEARS SINCE WE PLAYED A BIG TOURNAMENT LIKE THIS AT HOME" AboulkheirAboulkheir

Last November, in the opening window of the African Qualifiers, Egypt beat both Morocco and DR Congo but lost to hosts Angola in the first-leg of Group C. They will look to build on that in order to secure a spot in the 12-team Second Round. 

"We are into our second week of preparations and we hope to make our fans proud of the national team again. They can't wait for the Qualifiers to get started because it's been almost 20 years since we played a big tournament like this at home," Aboulkheir recalled.

Amr Aboulkheir

Although Egypt hosted a number of FIBA Africa Zone 5 AfroBasket Qualifiers over recent years, they last faced some of the strongest teams on the African continent as hosts of FIBA AfroBasket 2003.

"We're putting together our best resources and we're going and try to make this tournament a celebration of basketball in Cairo," he said.

"Hopefully, Assem Marei, Ahmed Khalaf and Abdel Nader will join us in the first two weeks of the African Qualifiers. Of course they can make a difference for us, but at the end of the day, it's all about a basketball team." 

"WE'RE PUTTING TOGETHER OUR BEST RESOURCES AND WE'RE GOING TO TRY AND MAKE THE QUALIFIERS A CELEBRATION OF BASKETBALL IN CAIRO" - Aboulkheir

Before Egypt resume their World Cup African Qualifiers campaign, Aboulkheir indicated they will play another warm-up with a tournament in Lebanon in June.

The Egyptians played at the World Cup in Spain in 2014 to end a 20-year absence from FIBA's flagship competition. With that in mind, Aboulkheir is quick to warn that they "will do everything we can to qualify again."

FIBA