D'Tigers and "Gingas" among ones to make Africa proud in 2012

FOZ DO IGUAÇU (Júlio Chitunda's African Message) - How African basketball performed in 2012. Its positives and negatives are the topic of this week´s African Message.

Without a doubt Nigeria's showing at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) followed by their first Olympic appearance dominated Africa's basketball agenda.

But Angola women´s team the "Gingas" as they are affectionately called, who played their first Olympic ever, was also a significant moment in African basketball this year.

Unlike the past 20 years, Angola's men team missed their first Olympic appearance, despite a remarkable 88-84 win over The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD) in their OQT opening.

Their women counterpart became the fifth African team to have played at an Olympic since 1996, when Democratic Republic of Congo was the first African women team to compete in the tournament, followed by Senegal (2000), Nigeria (2004),  and Mali (2008).

This 2012 year has become a new chapter in African basketball history, and 2013 is surely a year for improvement of past mistakes.

The "Gingas" lost all five of their games at the London Games, and revealed their shooting troubles as they scored only 48.6 points per game, the fewest of the 12 teams in the tournament.

To me Angola's women need significant improvement if they are to defend their Afrobasket title next year in Mozambique.

Although the D'Tigers, as Nigeria men's team are commonly known, won only one game at the London Games – a significant one, in fact, as it was over the continental champions from Tunisia – they attracted worldwide attention.

Nigeria did this year what they were unable to do in previous years.

If they keep their selection policy, they are a team to watch out.

They put their best players together and the result was jaw-dropping for some, although it should not be a surprise as Nigeria are unquestionable one of the strongest teams in world.

Not many teams enjoy a large selection option as Nigeria do.

They have an endless list of potential players to represent the country and they are capitalising on it.

In the words of Nigerian international Ade Dagunduro, there are over two hundred millions Nigerian descendents worldwide, and many stand a chance of wearing the green jersey.

The 2011 Afrobasket champions Tunisia played hard and well in London but finished win-less.

Individually Salah Mejri was the tournament's top shot blocker, averaging 3.4 swats to go with 10 boards per game - second among all players - and also averaged 10.4 points per game.

The 2.17m center had two tryouts with the New York Knicks, followed by another with the Denver Nuggets and one with the Dallas Mavericks.

Mejri played with the Utah Jazz in the summer league, but, eventually he joined Blusens Monbus Obradoiro in Spain's Liga Endesa.

His countryman Macram Ben Romdhane went on to average an impressive 15 points per game in the Olympics.

Club wise, Liga Desportiva de Maputo, formed mostly of Mozambique's women national team players, left a clear message to next year´s Afrobasket which will be host at home their home soil.

They stopped Angolan Inter Clube de Luanda to win their third consecutive Africa Champions Cup for Women (ACCW) after a 53-43 win in the Final.

Veteran Clarisse Machanguana was named the tournament's MVP.

In men's clubs competition, Angolan Primeiro D'Agosto won their eighth African Champions Cup (ACC) thanks to a 80-69 defeat of archrivals Petro de Luanda in the Final.

In the Angolan capital, D'Agosto's center and Angolan international Joaquim Gomes told the media that the ACC triumph is indicative of Angolan basketball resurgence after they had a disappointing 2011 campaign.

D'Agosto lost last year's ACC final to Tunisian champions Etoile Sportive du Sahel while Angola men's team lost the 2011 Afrobasket to Tunisia.

Nigeria are hotly-tipped to capture their first Afrobasket title next year, but hosts Ivory Coast, Senegal, Angola and Tunisia are certainly teams to watch out.

Júlio Chitunda

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.