TUN - The confidence of shot-swatting Salah Mejri

ANTWERP (Olympics) - One of the enduring images of Afrobasket 2011 was the sight of MVP Salah Mejri celebrating on the court with his teammates in Madagascar after their title-game triumph over Angola.

The center, who fought hard at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, took the same courageous and confident approach to Madagascar and it helped his team come up with one of the country's greatest sporting achievements.

In that 67-56 Afrobasket championship win over Angola, Mejri was the dominating player defensively for his country, and on the boards.

He finished with three blocks and 15 rebounds.

It was a bold display from a rising star.

Mejri finished as the Afrobasket's leading shot-blocker with an average of 2.4 per contest.

He says that fans at the Olympics will see a Tunisian team that is fearless when it plays at the London Games.

"We are going to the Olympics to compete," Mejri said to FIBA.com, "and realistically, we expect to win one or two games."

Tunisia will try to become the second African team to win at least two games at an Olympics in the last 20 years.

Angola were Africa's representatives at the previous five Olympics and in that time, they won a total of three games - two  in Barcelona in 1992 against host nation Spain and then China.

The boost in Turkey

Without a doubt, Tunisia's trip to the World Championship in Istanbul made the players believe that anything is possible.

They lost all five games in Turkey yet left believing they belonged on the biggest stages of international basketball.

Even in their last game, a 92-57 defeat to a star-laden United States, Tunisia grew in confidence.

"We went to the World Championship to see what it was like to play at a high level," Mejri said.

"We went there to learn.

"It was a good experience to play at the World Championship, but it was nothing extraordinary to face the NBA players.

"Playing against the USA team seemed exactly the same as playing a team like Brazil or Iran."

The NBA dream

Since the end of the Afrobasket, Mejri, who plays for Belgians Antwerp Giants, hasn't been with his Tunisia teammates.

And he won't be with them when they start preparing for London, either.

Mejri will be on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean trying to realize what he calls "a dream of any basketball player."

The 25-year-old, who stands 2.17m in height, will be trying out with NBA teams.

It means he will miss the Stankovic Cup, and he could be absent for a clash with Belgium's national team in Antwerp.

"I may join my national team in July," he said.

"Head coach Adel Tlatli and the federation are aware of it, and they agreed with it. I will be trying out with NBA teams in the summer.

"Then I may go to Tunisia for three or four days to see my family before I join the national team."

The Olympics tip off on 28 July in London.


FIBA