FIBA Africa Zone 3 Qualifiers: Ghana's boys and girls teams miss out on qualification

Ghana's hopes of securing a spot in the 2023 FIBA Under 16 African Championship were dashed, despite a hard-fought victory against arch-rivals Nigeria with a score of 47-45.

The intense three-day competition took place at the Eden Heights Sports Complex in the capital city of Ghana, Accra.

In the Zone 3 qualifiers, Ghana's U-16 boys team managed to clinch a narrow two-point win against the highly regarded Nigerian team, which had previously dominated Cote D'Ivoire with a convincing 67-38 victory in the tournament's opening match.

However, a surprising 65-68 overtime loss to Cote D'Ivoire proved costly for Ghana, as they trailed behind Nigeria in the standings based on goal difference, resulting in their failure to secure the sole qualification ticket to the upcoming continental tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, scheduled to take place in two weeks.

Ghana's head coach, Lawal Brimah, attributed the loss to Cote D'Ivoire to his team's inefficiency in free throws, as they missed two crucial attempts during overtime.

All three nations in the division concluded the zonal qualifiers with one win and one loss in the round-robin format. However, Nigeria's superior goal difference set them apart as the top team among their regional rivals.

In the Girls' division, Ghana also fell short of qualifying for the African competition, suffering two defeats against Nigeria. Ghana faced a heavy 24-73 loss in the first game and a challenging 17-65 defeat in the second encounter against their Nigerian counterparts. The results mean the Nigerians have qualified for the FIBA Africa World Qualifiers scheduled for Tunisia.