AfroBasket Women - Eight teams battle for two places in Turkey 2014

MAPUTO (AfroBasket Women/FIBA World Championship for Women) - Four teams will see their chances increased to secure the two places on offer for African teams to qualify the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Friday's 2013 AfroBasket Women Quarter-Finals in Maputo, Mozambique.

In the first game, Cote d'Ivoire will take on Cameroon. The Ivoirians won the last games between the two sides, but this time, as Kani Kouyate says "this Cameroon team is simply too strong to beat," although they will not rest "until the final second of the game."

Cote d'Ivoire registered three wins in Group A, but fell short against Senegal, and Mozambique.

Meanwhile, Cameroon, clearly the outsider who have surprised the entire competition with their aggressive style of play, won four games in the tough Group B against Africa's highest ranked team Mali, Kenya, Cape Verde and Nigeria, but only lost to Angola in the waning seconds of the game.

Interestingly, Cote d'Ivoire denied Cameroon in the Quarter-Finals in 2009, in Madagascar, making Friday's game an interesting re-match.

Neither team has ever competed in a FIBA World Championship for Women.

Reigning champions Angola and Mozambique are the only two teams to have gone unbeaten in five Preliminary Round games.

In Friday's Quarter-Finals, Angola will take on Egypt who registered wins against Zimbabwe and Algeria.

Egypt's place in the Last Eight represents a significant progress for a team which last played in the continental championship in 2001.

So taking on Angola will be a paramount challenge for one of the youngest teams in the tournament.

In contrast, Angola will play their fourth Quarter-Final in the last five AfroBasket Women.

When Mozambique beat Senegal in Wednesday's Group A leader decider, it became clear that Nasir Sale's team was ready to make their countrymen and women proud in the tournament.

They will take on Nigeria on Friday, looking to reach the Semis for the first time since 2007.

The Nigerians improved visibly in the last two games of Group B, but taking on Mozambique and their home fans will be a gigantic task.

The trio of Ndidi Madu, Joyce Ekworomadu and Helen Ogunjimi has clearly improved their game, but they will need to remain focused and avoiding getting distracted with the rowdy home crowd.

In the last Quarter-Final, Mali will take on Africa's most successful team Senegal but do so without their scoring-machine Djene Diawara who suffered a left knee injury and will not be available for the remaining of the tournament.

Mali finished third in Group B following losses to some of the tournament top guns in Angola and Cameroon.

Without Diawara, the scoring role has been handed to Meiya Tirera who contributed with game-high 29 points against Angola.

Senegal were left heartbroken on Wednesday after losing to Mozambique, but missing out on a seventh consecutive Semi-Final spot is not in their mind.

For full and in-depth coverage of AfroBasket Women 2013, go to the official website http://maputo2013.fibaafrica.com.

FIBA