By Victor Kanayo
Mali have defeated fellow West African nation, Nigeria, to lift the 2024 FIBA U-18 Women’s AfroBasket champions.
The victory for the Malians is the seventh in the past 10 editions.
They achieved the latest feat after defeating Nigeria 76-56 in Pretoria, South Africa.
By reaching the final, Mali that closed their campaign with a 6-0 mark – secured one of the two tickets available for African countries for the FIBA U-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2025 to be held in Czechia.
Nigeria secured the other qualifying ticket to the mundial by reaching the final of the continental championship.
In their first appearance in the competition, Cameroon beat Uganda 70-63 to finish third.
At the end, organisers reeled out the final standings of various participating countries in this year’s competition.
Champions Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Egypt, Angola and Rwanda were ranked first to seventh respectively.
The countries that placed eight to 12th respectively are Tunisia, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
