The president of the Liberia Basketball Association, Abraham Samukai, has sent a congratulatory message to both under 18 men and women teams following their participation in the 2024 Afrobasket Zone 3 championship in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The intent of the competition that just ended last Sunday was to have a single country booking a spot for South Africa 2025 under 19 qualifiers in the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) zone 3 member countries in both male and female categories.
This was a competition which showcased Liberia’s first experience to international basketball since 2007 due to some restrictions placed on the country by FIBA for some issues of governance on the former leadership.
After the teams’ journey, LBA boss Samukai said though the overall result in the competition is not what the country wanted, pulling a huge win over Benin in the final match on Saturday should be appreciated.
Liberia men’s U-18 whipped Benin 87-58 in their final match of the competition after losing three straight matches to Ghana 64-56, Ivory Coast 92-61 and Nigeria 82-49 points.
The women’s team however lost two straight matches in the best of three category to send an early signal of an exit before the boys were confirmed later.
They put up a great fight against the host in a controversial 52-50 points defeat before poorly performing against Nigeria in their next match which resulted to 90-09 points.
The Liberia Basketball Association president after witnessing the boys’ final match on Saturday, August 3, 2024, he immediately sent a congratulatory message to the entire delegation made of 37 members.
“Job well done on the final day guys; we will return much stronger in our next competition. It was great experience for the first time in many years. We had not participated in such an outstanding international tournament for many years. Congratulations once more and I wished your safe return back home,” he lauded.