• Unstoppable D'Tigresses move closer to record fifth consecutive title
...Record Champions, Senegal upset hosts Cote d'Ivoire to keep title dream alive
...Mali revive World Cup chances, with last four ticket
Nigeria advanced to the semifinals of the Women's AfroBasket and secured the fourth and final spot for African teams in the 2026 Women's Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournaments.
The six-time champions, Nigeria's D'Tigresses, reached the last four by defeating Cameroon 83-47 and keeping their title defense campaign alive.
Nigeria won the first quarter, 21-9 and gave a good second, 20-all. But Cameroon's 2-25 third quarter loss was not only dull but doom. A 17-16 final quarter win by Nigeria ended the tie.
Meanwhile, Senegal beat Côte d'Ivoire in front of their home crowd to reach to the semifinals.
This is the first time in seven tournament editions that a host country has missed the semifinals. It will, however, be a massive improvement from Côte d'Ivoire's 11th place finish in 2023.
The first half went to Côte d'Ivoire 19-11, 17-16, but Côte d'Ivoire's dominance ended with the restart, with Senegal taking the next periods 15-7, 24-17 for the win.
In the second quarter-final match played on Thursday, Mali who came up short in last year's World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Mexico, secured a chance to rerun for qualification to World Cup in Germany.
Mali held good enough numbers to seal victory, 23-11, 28-25, 15-18 and 20-14.
The semi-finalists join a group of 24 national teams that will compete in four qualifying tournaments of six teams each. The tournaments will determine the teams for the 16 nation, World Cup.
Brazil, Argentina, USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Colombia will represent the Americas in the World Cup Qualifiers. While hosts, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey are Europe's representatives.
Tickets for the World Cup Qualifying Tournaments went to the following Asian and Oceania teams: Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia.
★ FINAL SCORE
Uganda 68-69 South Sudan
Mali 86-68 Mozambique
Côte d'Ivoire 60-66 Senegal
Nigeria 83-47 Cameroon
★ SEMI-FINALS PAIRINGS (Aug 2)
Senegal v Nigeria
6:00pm (local time)
Mali v South Sudan
9:00 (local time)
Palais des Sport de Treichville
★ CLASSIFICATION ROUND (Aug 1)
5th-8th position
Mozambique v Uganda
12:00 (local time)
Côte d'Ivoire v Cameroon
3:00 (local time)
Palais des Sport de Treichville
----This news comes from FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG and is NOT for commercial purposes
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