FIBA World Cup – African qualifiers
Group F fixtures
September 14 Senegal Vs Rwanda
September 15 Rwanda Vs Cote d’Ivoire
September 16 Rwanda Vs CAR
RWANDA National Senior Basketball Team will take on Senegal in the first game on September 14 when they start quest for FIBA World Cup ticket in the African qualifiers’ second round.
The second and final round of qualifiers for the world’s biggest basketball tournament will start on September 14, 2018 and run through February 24, 2019 over two separate windows. Venues for Window and Window 6 of the qualifiers are yet to be revealed.
As indicated by the fixtures released by the world basketball governing body, Group F’s second round fixtures will played over two windows with the first one (Window 4) set to be played from September 14 to 16 while second and last one (Window 6) takes place on February 22-24, 2019.
Rwanda progressed to second round from Group B as first runners-up behind leaders Nigeria, while Mali advanced as second runners-up of the group.
To form the six-team Group F for the ultimate round of qualifiers, Group B teams were merged with the best three teams from Group D, which was led by Senegal followed by Central African Republic (CAR) and Cote d’Ivoire in second and third place respectively.
All first round results will be carried forward to the second round and teams from the same first round group will not face each other again, meaning that Rwanda will only play teams that came from Group D namely; Senegal, Central African Republic and Cote d’Ivoire.
The first game for Vladmir Bosjnak’s team is slated for September 14 against Senegal before taking on Cote d’Ivoire the following day and wrapping up the fourth window games with a clash against Central African Republic on September 16.
During the last window in the return-legs, Rwanda will again face Senegal in the first game on February 22 2019, play Cote d’Ivoire next before winding up the qualifiers journey with a tie against Central African Republic on February 24.
The top two teams from Group E and F will automatically qualify for the World Cup, joined by the third best ranked team from either of the two groups.
As per the first round results, Nigeria lead Group F with 12 points followed by Senegal with 11 points while Central African Republic and Rwanda complete top four with nine points each.
Cote d’Ivoire and Mali are fifth and sixth respectively, each with eight points.
The first-ever 32-team edition of FIBA’s flagship competition will take place from August 31-September 15, 2019, in China.
editorial@newtimes.co.rw