Egypt faces Nigeria in their third match of the African Cup

CAIRO – 20 August 2017: The Egyptian women’s basketball team will go head to head against Nigeria on August 20 in their third match for the African Women’s Basketball Championship that is being held in Mali from August 18-27.

Egypt managed to defeat DR Congo on August 18 in the opening game of the tournament with a score of 99-72. They then continued their winning streak on August 19 by beating Guinea with a score of 109-78.

Their next game will be against Nigeria on August 20. Egypt will then rest for a day before playing Senegal and Mozambique in the last two matches of the group stages.

Egypt’s coach Amr Ashour is expected to depend on his experienced players like Meral Abdelgawed, Nour Aly and Rana Abd Elfattah in order to gain a precious victory against a strong team like Nigeria.

Egypt plays in Group B alongside the reigning champions, Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea, DR Congo and Mozambique, while Group A includes Central African Republic, Tunisia, Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and the host nation, Mali.

Amr Ashour chose the following players to represent the Egyptian national team in the tournament: Meral Asraf Abdelgawad, Rana Abd Elfattah, Nour Aly, Mennatalla Awad, Reem Osama, Radwa Sherif, Mai Helwa, Manar Ihab, Hala Mostafa, Soraia Deghady, Asrar Maged and Rannem El-Gedawy.

Ashour chose Meral Asraf Abdelgawad, Rana Abd Elfattah, Asrar Bakr and Radwa Sherif from the U-19 team, who participated in the U-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Italy last month, to support the first team squad.

Egypt won the gold medal in the first two editions in 1966 and 1968, while Senegal won the most titles, having won the gold medal 11 times.