FIBA Africa Executive Director Alphonse Bile has described seeing Mali’s Under 19 Men’s Basketball Team place second at the 2019 FIBA Under 19 World Cup as “very satisfying and important”.
He made this statement in an interview with Basketball Africa League (BAL) Hang Time in an extensive discussion on varied areas of basketball on the African continent.
Mali won the silver medal at the World Cup behind the United States of America becoming the first African nation to reach the final.
“I’m proud, I knew this team from the beginning. Mali has a lot of young talented basketball players a lot of people play basketball in Mali…it was very satisfying and important because we were preparing for the BAL” he said.
The BAL was scheduled to commence in March this year but had to be indefinitely postponed due to the corona virus pandemic and Bile alluded to Mali’s performance as a major incentive to boost the profile of the BAL which is an NBA-FIBA Africa venture.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
