Africa-Press – Angola. Petro de Luanda, national champions for the 16th time, will face City Oilers from Uganda at 7:30 pm on Thursday, in the city of Cairo, Egypt, in the debut of the African Basketball League (BAL).
In its third consecutive presence, since the competition adopted the League format, in 2021, the “tricolors“ aim to win the trophy, after the third position in the first edition and the second, in 2022.
In this preliminary phase of the Nilo conference, which starts, however, this Wednesday, with the challenge between the host Al Haly and Ferroviário da Beira, from Mozambique, the Angolan representative has a mix of rookie and totalist players, as well as new contracted in the foreign market.
The Angolan team will evolve with only four totalists, namely captain Carlos Morais (winger), Childe Dundão (base), Gerson Gonçalves (winger) and Jone Pedro (post), international athletes for the National Team who form the basis of the initial five.
As on the two previous occasions, the “road axis” set did not retain any foreign players.
In 2021, they had the help of two active players from abroad, namely the British Ryan Richards (pole) and the American Antoine Scott (base winger) and were influential in the classification in which Petro won the bronze medal, in proof won by the Egyptians of Zamalek.
In the second edition, in 2022, the team was joined by Cape Verdean Anderson Correia (winger), North American Albert Mathews (baseball winger) and African Center Thierry Da Law (winger), the latter from the NBA academy, in Dakar.
For this edition, coach José Neto, who is also a totalist, has the services of Ivorian Souleyman Diabate (base), North American Damian Hollis (post) and Sudanese Ater Majok (post), the latter champion of the BAL for Tunisia’s Monastir, in addition to Egyptian point guard Seif El Handawi, from the NBA Africa Academy.
Ater Majok could be the main reinforcement of the Angolan team taking into account his performances at the service of the Tunisian team. He was named the best defenseman in the competition with an average of 11 rebounds per game, 2.4 blocks and 13.6 points.
Of the six teams competing in that Nile conference, to be disputed in a round-robin system, only the first four qualified for the final phase, from 21 to 27 May, in Rwanda, will qualify for the final phase, which will join the another four from the Saara conference.
Petro de Luanda match schedule
April 27th
Petro de Luanda – City Oilers (7:30 pm)
April 29th
Beira Railway – Petro de Luanda (16h00)
1st May
Petro de Luanda-Cape Town Tigers (20h30)
May 3
Slac- Petro de Luanda (20h30)
May 5th
Petro de Luanda-Al Haly (19h30)
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