19th AWC: D-Day fast approaching

Twelve African countries are to battle for the two slots reserved for the continent in next year's FIBA World Championship billed for Rio De Jainero, Brazil from December 21 through 29 in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja.

African champions and hosts Nigeria are among the favourities, along with the team they beat in 2003 to qualify for the Olympics, Mozambique.

Two years ago, the Nigerian female national team, D'Tigress won that trophy in Mozambique, beating the Mozambicans in Maputo 69-63 points to win the African title for the firts time.

The first real test for the Scott Nnaji -led technical crew of the Nigerian team, will be when they square-up against Senegal, who beat Angola to the bronze medal two years ago.

Senegal are the biggest obstacle for the host team in Group A, which also includes Cape Verde, Mali,Tunisia and Liberia.

The runners-up will have to play better than they did last month in the Angolan capital. In that preparatory tournament, the Angolans swept their opponents, including Democratic Republic of Congo who are in Group B along with Niger,Togo and Gabon.

According to feelers from the Nigeria camp in Abuja, where the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF and the Nigeria Sports Ministry intend to use the team's preparation for the Fiba Africa Championship also as preparation for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Nigeria is in group-B alongside Oceania basketball power-house, New Zealand, Malaysia and Malta that the players are rearing to go for the kill.

The players according to nigeriasports.com dependable sources, have vowed to retain the trophy they won two years back enroute their qualification for the 2004 Athens Olympics where they became the first Africa team to win an Olympic match.