MLI – Maiga calls it quits with Mali

BAMAKO (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) – Mali great Hamchetou Maiga has announced her retirement from the national team.

The 31-year-old, who led her team to a gold medal at the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship for Women to earn Mali a trip to the Beijing Olympics, announced she is calling it quits to Afrobasket – the FIBA Africa television program that airs monthly.

“Basketball was everything for me but now, things must change and I have to stay at home and take care of my family,” Maiga said in remarks to the Afrobasket program that appear on www.fiba-afrique.org.

“The Olympic Games were my dream and I already made it.”

Maiga has always had a lot of supporters back home.

She grew up in a family of 19 children.

A standout player at Old Dominion University in Virginia, which is historically a powerhouse in the women’s college game, Maiga played in the WNBA and also competed in Europe with clubs like Nice and USO Mondeville in France, and Gambrinus Sika Brno in the Czech Republic.

The MVP of the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship for Women realized her dream of competing at an Olympic Games but suffered an injury in Beijing and ended up playing in only two games.

She had spoken to FIBA.com at the 2008 EuroLeague Women Final Four about the opportunity to play for Mali at the Olympics.

At last year’s FIBA Africa Championship, Maiga averaged 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists as her country grabbed a silver medal to earn a trip to the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic.

Mali will take on Brazil, Korea and Spain in Group C.

FIBA