Angola: Fighting for recognition

Living in the shadow of the men's team, the Angola women's National Team will play it its first world level competition in 20 years. The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament will probably be a "last dance" for a lot of the players who will fight to join the Angola men in Beijing.

Yes, the Angola Women National Team is alive! The women, who have forever existed in the shadow of the men's National Team, a side that wins African title after African title every two years, will play at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid.

Raul Duarte, the new coach of the Angola women who was appointed in January, has experience that should come in handy. As an assistant to former men's National Team boss Mario Palma, he went to the Athens Olympics and served as an assistant coach at two FIBA World Championships. He also worked as the assistant coach in 1988 when the women's National Team made their first and only other appearance in a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Singapore. On that team was a young Maria Afonso. She is still with the national side, dribbling, passing, shooting and rebounding, at the ripe old age of 40. The long-time coach of Petro Luanda in the men's top flight, there is another reason to believe Angola have a chance to be successful. Duarte knows his players very well. This season, he took the helm of Angola powerhouse Primero de Agosto and in that squad are many of the players who will attempt to qualify the team for the Olympics.
Newcomers to the national team are Nadir Manuel, Felizarda Jorge, Judith Queta and Angelina Galome, and Duarte said: "These girls are all under 21 and are the future of Angola Basketball. They bring height and weight to the squad." There is also a player who made her debut last year, Sonia Guadalupe. Now 22, she entered the Angola Women's National Team, started the international campaign in Zimbabwe in the preliminary round before grabbing 11 unexpected minutes per game during the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship's final round. Very quick for her size, the small forward/shooting guard has three-point shooting range.

As for Afonso and 38-year-old Irene Guerreiro, Duarte said: "It will be extremely important having Maria and Irene with those youngsters as they will rely on their experience and show to the youngsters how to play under difficult circumstances."

The Palancas Negras (sand antilopes as they are nicknamed) will be led by center Nacessela Mauricio, a player who is back home after seven years playing in Portugal and Spain.
Angola will be underdogs in Group B of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid, with the top two sides advancing to the quarter-finals and Duarte expects his team to be one of them. "We acknowledge that it is a tough pool," Duarte said. "We will face difficult games due to our opponents' experience, but we will step onto the court to level all the games, no matter who our opponents are, and we'll go as far as possible in the competition."

Make no mistake, the women do have the full backing of the Federação Angolana do Basquetebol and that is evident with the basketball federation having always sent junior and senior teams to all African competitions, something that is rare on this continent. The bronze medal won at the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship for Women was the fifth in the country's history. Angola captured a silver medal in 1987 and bronze in 1981, '84 and '94. A big problem for Angolan women basketball has been the lack of experience in competitions outside of Africa, though. The only time they played inn an official international tournament on another continent was in Singapore two decades ago. They finished with five losses, including a 110-32 humiliation against Soviet Union.

The last time Angola's women reached a final of an African Tournament was in 1987, when they played the title showdown of the Pan African games in Nairobi, Kenya. Minnows on the international stage they may be, but Duarte is optimistic. "As a professional, I have the obligation to guide the team to the highest level as possible," he said.

How did they qualify?

2007 FIBA Africa Championship, Final Round
Bronze Medal (7 W - 1 L)

Results

Preliminary Round
Sept-21th 2007   
Angola b Kenya    62-44

Sept-22nd 2007   
Angola b Nigeria    53-42

Sept-23rd 2007   
Angola b Cape Verde    66-41

Sept-25th 2007   
Angola b Cameroon    63-38

Sept-26th 2007   
DR Congo b Angola    52-42

Quarter Final
Sept-28th 2007   
Angola b Côte d'Ivoire    44-42

Semi-final
Sept-29th 2007   
Mali b Angola    69-60

Bronze Medal Game
Sept-30th 2007   
Angola b Mozambique    73-58