The Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA), in collaboration with Rwanda as hosts of the Afrobasket tournament, has unveiled the official logo of the 16-team competition set for August 24-September 5, 2021 in Kigali. The Kigali Arena will host the tournament from August 24 to September 5. Rwanda hosts the competition, having beaten off competition from Senegal, DR Congo and Côte dIvoire in the bidding process in June 2019, making it the first East African nation to organise the Afrobasket finals since 1993 when it was played in Kenya. The new logo features a basketball wrapped in a yellow sun, sitting on a trophy covered in the other two national colours of blue and green, and having the black and white traditional popular art of imigongo in the middle. FERWABA Second Vice president, Richard Nyirishema, hinted on the preparedness of Rwandans to host the competition, We are hospitable people. We have good services and we shall do all that we can to facilitate the AfroBasket to ensure it is a successful event for all. Rwanda has hosted several other continental events including the FIBA Africa Champions Cup 2009, FIBA U18 African Championship 2016 and the FIBA U16 African Womens Championship 2019 among others. Next years edition will be the 40th edition of the continental competition and will also mark the first time that it will be hosted after four years. It was previously held every two years. Meanwhile, Rwanda also will host 2021 African Basketball Championships (Afrobasket) qualifiers. The qualifiers are scheduled for November 25-29 in Kigali. It will be a three-group (A, B and D) tournament. In the qualifiers, Rwanda has been placed in Group D along with Nigeria, Algeria and Mali. However, as the host country, Rwanda has an automatic ticket to participate at the 2021 Afrobasket finals tournament.
