Bottom seeds Mali and Senegal wait with bated breath for Under-19 Basketball World Cup draw

Mali and Senegal await U19 Basketball WC draw

JOHANNESBURG, April 28 (ANA) – Mali and Senegal will be eagerly awaiting the draw for the Under-19 men’s and women’s Basketball World Cups which will be held in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday evening.

Mali and Senegal are in pot four in the men’s event, alongside the other lowest seeds Argentina and Puerto Rico.

Mali also have a team in the women’s draw alongside Egypt in the other bottom seeds in pot four. Brazil and Argentina are the other teams in pot four.

Qualification for both events was impacted by the suspension of World Basketball competitions last year, with only African teams booking their spots directly via continental championships.

Continental youth championships did not take place in other regions last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Basketball World Rankings for Youth Men and Youth Women were used to determine the other teams qualified for the respective Under-19 Basketball World Cups.

The 16 teams participating in the Under-19 Basketball World Cup, to be organised from July 3 to 11 in the Latvian cities of Daugavpils and Riga, were seeded as follows: As per the draw principles, the draw is open with the only restriction of fourth-seeded Argentina and Puerto Rico going to groups without teams from the Americas.

For the Under-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, to be hosted in Debrecen, Hungary from August 7 to 15, the seedings are as follows: As per the draw principles, the draw is open with the only restriction of fourth-seeded Brazil and Argentina going to groups without teams from the Americas.

Both draws will be live-streamed on Fiba’s YouTube channel at 5.30pm Central European Time.

Eight different countries have won the Under-19 Basketball World Cup since its inception in 1979, with the reigning champions USA leading the field with seven titles.

Introduced in 1985, the Under-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup has seen five different winners, the USA having captured the trophy a remarkable eight times in 13 editions of the competition. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman