The Egyptian club Al-Ahly took home the top price at the 31st edition of the FIBA Africa Basketball Club Championship on 16 December.
It was not an easy win. Al-Ahly managed to snatch the gold medal from Angola’s Recreativo do Libolo thanks to the difference of two points. The final match ended with a score of 68-66 in Al-Ahly’s favour.
In the match set to determine the winner of the bronze medal, Morocco’s AS Sale defeated Nigeria’s Kano Pillars by a final score of 88-76.
Al-Ahly’s team consisted of the following players: Tarek El-Ghannam, Sherif El-Deiasty, Ahmed El-Selawi, Mostafa El-Shafey, Moemen Aboul Enin, Mohanad El-Sabagh, Ibrahim El-Gamal, Karim El-Dahshan, Seif Samir, Mohamed Aboul Nasr, Wayne Arnold, and Markeith Cummings.
Arnold and Cummings are two basketball professional players from the US. Al-Ahly signed with them to play at the championship and paid $10,000 for each player.
Tarek Khairy, Al-Ahly basketball team coach, told Daily News Egypt: “When I chose them, I chose players that can play with a high performance in more than one position.”
It was a wise choice as the presence of both players from the US made a great difference in the championship, especially Arnold, who won the title of best player at this tournament.
El-Ghannam won the title of best rebounder at the championship, while Je’Kel Foster, an American professional basketball player, playing currently for Angola’s Recreativo do Libolo, won the title of best pointer at the championship.
