ANG – Primeiro de Agosto ready to challenge for honors

LUANDA (FIBA Africa Champions Cup) – One team that sure won’t be short on talent at the FIBA Africa Champions Cup is powerhouse Primeiro de Agosto.

The team has a glittering array of players from Angola and Cape Verde.

Angolan international Joaquim Gomes "Kikas” - the Most Valuable Player of the FIBA Africa Championship - is the biggest name of the Primeiro bunch.

They also have Cape Verde internationals Marques Houtman and Rodrigo Mascarenhas, as well as Angolan national team star Olimpio Cipriano.

If Cameroon’s Luc Mbah A Moute played with the team, in fact, Primeiro would have the five players voted to the all-tournament team at the FIBA Africa Championship.

Is this the best team in the African Continent?

Rodrigo Mascarenhas said to FIBA: "This team is very ambitious; we are still getting to know each other.

"It is a privilege playing with a team with so much quality, though.

"Winning all competitions that our team is involved in is our main goal. We have no other thought in our minds rather than to win the tournament.”

Last season Primeiro de Agosto saw Petro Atletico de Luanda beat them to glory.

In Lagos, Nigeria, Petro de Luanda and Angola national team ace Milton Barros netted a three-pointer with just 30 seconds from the end to seal a 76-71 victory over Primeiro de Agosto at the FIBA Africa Champions Cup.

Rodrigo, who is in his first season with Angolan giants Primeiro, played down what happened last season.

"In my point of view, we have better team than Petro de Luanda, but we just have to focus on ourselves.

"I know clearly the Angolan teams that will play at the tournament and both Ferroviario [Mozambique outfit] and ABC from Ivory Coast"

Just imagine if 19-year-old Mbah A Moute was with Primeiro instead of at UCLA.

Mascarenhas said: "He is a talented player that I think will have a great professional career. I predict him ending up with any NBA outfit."

The FIBA Africa Champions Cup tips off on Thursday.

Primeiro de Agosto will play in group A along Inter de Luanda (Angola), APR (Rwanda), BC Kauka (DR Congo), MBC (Guinea), and ASPAC (Benin), in Cabinda city.

Rwanda outfit APR landed in Luanda three days before the tournament.

In their team are well known players Aboubakar Barame and Bunene Valery Kajeguhakwa.

They played for Rwanda this summer in Angola.

Primeiro de Agosto will be tough to beat.

Coach Jaime Covilha will have Portugal international Francisco Jordao, Central African Republic's Fabrice Mokotemapa, Angolan veteran Miguel Lutonda, Abdel Bouckar, Armando Costa, Carlos Almeida, Yube Major, Mayzer Alexandre, Denilson Moreira, Leandro Conceicao Joaquim Gomes, Olimpio Cipriano, Marques Houtman and Rodrigo Mascarenhas.

Julio Chitunda
FIBA