Ivory Coast’s Senior Men’s National Basketball Team is set to make its first appearance at the FIBA World Cup for the first time since the 2010 edition later this year.
The Elephants will compete at the FIBA 2019 World Cup to be held in China from August 31-September 15 after qualifying alongside four other African nations.
Nigeria, Angola, Senegal and Tunisia qualified to represent the continent alongside the West African nation in the 32 nation tournament that was last won by USA.
However, the Ivorians have the biggest chance of progressing beyond the group stage thanks to a favourable draw in Group A.
Unlike Senegal who got paired in Group H with powerhouses Australia, Canada and Lithuania, Ivory Coast got drawn alongside host China, Venezuela and Poland in an evenly matched group.
Host China is far removed from a talented core that had the likes of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian at its core and Poland and Venezuela are beatable.
On the other hand, Ivory Coast won its last three games in the African qualifiers to make it to China and has five members on the 2010 team featuring in the current roster.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
