Dakar, Nov 20 (APS) – The coach of the Senegal men’s national basketball team, Ngagne DeSagana Diop, assured Wednesday of the “great form” of his players and their motivation to win the three matches in front of the Senegalese public that they will play from Friday for the Afrobasket 2025 qualifiers.
Scheduled to continue until Sunday, the second window of the 2025 men’s Afrobasket qualifiers concerns groups A and B and will take place at the “Dakar Arena”.
The first window was held last February in Egypt and Tunisia, with groups B, C and D.
“The team is doing well. All the players are there. We trained yesterday (Tuesday),” said the Senegalese coach at a press conference in Dakar, speaking of his foals.
“Nine of the twelve players who played in the friendly matches against Tunisia were called up. The group knows it is there to secure the three victories and wait for the February 2025 window to do the same,” added Ngagne DeSagana Diop.
Senegal and Tunisia played two friendly matches, on August 12 and 14, 2024.
The Lions had beaten their opponents, 66 points to 64, in the first game. Two days later, the Eagles of Carthage won in turn, 60 points to 65.
Winger Pape Moustapha Diop (Vichy, France), pivot Youssou Ndoye (Korea Kogas, South Korea), and leader Jean-Jacques Boissy (Urunani, Burundi) are the three players who did not take part in the matches August friendly. They complete the list of players called up for these qualifiers.
“Boissy brings a lot of energy to the team. He communicates on the ground. I like this attitude. Ndoye is a player with experience. He knows Afrobasket. He can help us a lot. Diop is a good defender. He is athletic. I am delighted that he is with us,” said the Senegalese technician.
Senegal is in Group B of these qualifiers alongside Cameroon, Gabon and Rwanda. Pool A includes South Sudan, DR Congo, Mali and Libya.
The Senegalese will play against the Rwandans for their first match of the second window of the Afrobasket 2025 qualifiers, Friday, at the “Dakar Arena” in Diamniadio, from 6 p.m. GMT.
“Rwanda has always had a good team. He has a good trainer, the Senegalese Cheikh Sarr. But we will focus on our goals. We only have four days to complete the preparation. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will start watching team videos. We already know that no match will be easy,” he said.
After Rwanda, Ngagne DeSagana Diop’s men will face those of Gabon the next day, Saturday November 23, at the same time, in the same “Dakar Arena” venue. They will complete this second qualifying window against Cameroon on Sunday November 24.
For the Lions coach, “the match against Cameroon which eliminated Senegal from the race for the final, during the 2017 Afrobasket, co-organized by Senegal and Tunisia, will not be easy”, but the players Senegalese “will be ready”.
A third window is planned for February 2025 for the five groups.
Angola has been designated to host the 2025 edition of the men’s Afrobasket.
Senegal won the bronze medal at the 2021 men’s Afrobasket in Kigali, an edition won by Tunisia at the expense of Ivory Coast.
Angola is the most successful nation in this competition with eleven trophies in total.
SK/MTN/BK
