Egypt and Angola qualify for FIBA World champs

ZONE V champions Egypt and former African champions Angola advanced to the final of 2013 Afrobasket championships following convincing semi-final wins over Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire respectively on Friday, qualifying for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The Egyptians - who were without a win in the Preliminary Round - will compete in FIBA’s flagship event the first time since 1990 while for the Angolans it was business as usual as they have not missed a FIBA World Championship since 2002. Egypt entered their semis clash looking to make sure their preliminary round loss against Senegal would not be repeated and they achieved that goal with a 70-63 thanks to an impressive performance by Assem Marei who dominated at both ends of the floor with a staggering 22 points and 17 rebounds. Senegal will face Cote d’Ivoire in the Third-Place Game, for the remaining place on offer in Abidjan for Spain 2014 World Cup. Rwanda finished in tenth position. Rwanda, which was representing Zone V for a fourth consecutive time, lost its classification round match 54-76 loss to Tunisia. Coach Moise Mutokambali’s side have gone three places up the grid having finished in 13th position at the 2011 edition in Antananarivo, Madagascar. However, the team is yet to put up a better performance than they did at the 2009 edition in Libyawhere they finished in ninth position.