The Cameroon senior men’s basketball team has qualified for the semifinals, remaining the only African representative at the ongoing 2024 FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs), as Egypt, Angola, and Côte d’Ivoire bow out, Completesports.com reports.
Cameroon, who raised the hopes of the African continent to secure one of the four available tickets for the forthcoming Paris 2024 Olympics billed to get underway from July 26 to August 11 will face the host country Latvia in the knockout stage slated to dunk off on Saturday, July 6.
The road to the knockout stages for the Cameroon side was not a stroll in the park having lost their first match to Montenegro ending in a slim 4-margin gap, 66-70, but keenly contest to get the crucial win against Brazil which ended in a slim 3- margin gap, 77-74.
However, results of the three other African countries ended on disappointing note as they lost their two round robin matches. Egypt fell to the pressure mounted by Greece despite the absence of Nigerian-born Greek power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo who was not featured in the Thursday’s match.
Greece won with a comfortable 22-margin gap, 93-71, to get to the semifinals where they will meet Luka Doncic-inspired Slovenia.
Angola were defeated by Lebanon with a slim 4-margin gap, 70- 74, while Cote d’ Ivoire lost in a 11-margin gap, 81-92, to Mexico.
After the conclusion of the round robin games, the twenty-four participating countries have been reduced to sixteen in the knock-out stage.
By Dotun Omisakin
