Rwanda men’s basketball team has dropped by two places from 62nd to 64th n in the latest FIBA World rankings released recently in Mies, Switzerland after the 2015 Continental Championships. The drop follows Rwanda’s failure to qualify for this year’s FIBA Afrobasket finals held in August in Tunisia after losing to Uganda 61-69 in the final match of the Zone V Qualifiers that were held in Kampala in September last year. Rwanda also drops two slots in continental ranking from 11th to 13th and second in the Zone V behind Egypt, who are ranked six and 41st in Africa and world respectively. Algeria 14th and 68th in Africa and world respectively, are the best climbers on the continental level moving up 12 places. Angola are the top-ranked country in Africa and ranked 15th in the world while, Tunisia, Nigeria, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire are 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. USA and Spain maintain the first and second positions on the world rankings however there was a change at No. 3 with Lithuania leapfrogging Argentina (4th) as France maintains fifth position. Cuba at 45th, are the best climbers on the latest world ranking jumping 13 slots from 58th. However, Rwanda women’s team moves up by two positions from 63rd to 61st and also remains second in the Zone Five, again behind Egypt, who are 8th and 60th in Africa and world respectively—the Egyptians are the best climbers in Africa, moving up 9 positions. Angola maintains the first position in women’s category followed by Mali, Senegal, Mozambique and Cameroon in that order. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
