Rwanda national team power forward Axel Mpoyo has said that after their journey in the Afro basket tournament, focus now turns to the FIBA World Cup qualifiers as they aim to book a ticket to play in the global showpiece. The 24-year-old is one of the players that made substantial contributions to the team in the tournament, registering 30 points, 15 Rebounds, assisting 3 and steals 4 overall. “As painful as it was losing at that stage of the championship we have to move on as there are bigger challenges ahead of us,” he said. Going forward, Mpoyo plans to continue to work hard and improve his game and he pledged to make himself available for national team duties. The draw of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers 2021 that took place recently placed Rwanda in the same group with South Sudan, Cameroon and Tunisia in Group B. “We just have to rebound and see if we can fight for one of the five slots reserved for Africa to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023,” Mpoyo said. Speaking about the experience of the Afro basketball tournament, he said it shows more countries are working hard every day to improve their game. “I can categorically say that the era of underdog is gradually coming to an end in African basketball.” Mpoyo recently joined the APR basketball club of Rwanda after playing last season for KP Trepca of Kosovo.
