Zimbabwe fall to Mozambique in final

Innocent Kurira , Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe men’s basketball side chocked when it mattered the most after falling 71-59 to Mozambique in the final of the Fiba Zone Six AfroCan qualifiers played at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Hall last night.

Prior to this meeting, the two sides had played each other twice at pool stage of the tournament.
Zimbabwe won the first game 71-57 before Mozambique triumphed 66-53 in the second encounter.
Mozambique took the early initiative and were leading 25-15 by the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Mozambique extend their lead from five to 10 points.

Zimbabwe managed to reduce the deficit to five points in the third quarter that ended 56-46 in favour of Mozambique.
Zimbabwe spurred on by the fans who had come in their numbers fought in the last quarter but the visitors held on to the lead.
Noah Penduka top scored for Zimbabwe with12 points. He also managed three assists.
Elves Houana was Mozambique’s top performer with 18 points.

Fiba Africa yesterday confirmed Angola as the host nation for the 2023 Fiba AfroCan during an official ceremony on Monday in the country’s capital city of Luanda.
Angola becomes the second country to organise the competition since Mali hosted the inaugural edition of the Fiba AfroCan in 2019.

This year’s Fiba AfroCan will take place from July 8 to 16.
Angola hosted the second round of Group E of the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers from February 24-26
Fiba AfroCan is a 12-nation and quadrennial continental competition aimed at home-based players.
Except for the teams that reached the semi-finals of the last edition of the tournament, the remaining eight teams qualify though regional qualifiers from all Fiba Africa seven zones.

DR Congo won the 2019 Fiba AfroCan in Bamako, Mali.
Teams qualified for this year’s Fiba AfroCan, so far, include reigning champions DR Congo, Kenya who finished second in 2019, Angola who finished third and Morocco.
Meanwhile, Mozambique were crowned champions of the women’s Afro-basket qualifiers after they beat Angola 90-82 in the final while the Zimbabwean women took bronze. – @innocentskizoe.