Browsing Tag day

The Rwanda U-18 men’s basketball team went down 33-46 against Mali on Saturday to record their second successive defeat in the ongoing under-18 African Basketball Championship in Maputo, Mozambique. Prior to that defeat the Junior Hoops had lost against a strong Tunisia side the day before 43-38, to mark a frustrating anti-climax in group stage.

Day one of the championships had seen Rwanda beat hosts Mozambique 62-34 with better results predicted in the course of the campaign but the two consecutive losses have slowed down their momentum. Action continues on Monday as they take on Ghana. Their final fixture will be against DR Congo.

The competition ends on 25^th August with the winner qualifying to represent Africa at the U-19 world Youth championships to be held next year.

 

 

Day 1, Thursday

Senegal 73-69 Gaborone

Cote d’Ivoire  60-51 Angola

Mozambique 34-62 Rwanda

 

RWANDA’S Junior Hoops ensured a bright start to this year’s Afrobasket U-18 Men’s Championship after thumping hosts Mozambique 62-34 at Desportivo Indoor Stadium in Maputo.

 

After lifting the Zone 5 trophy, the junior hoops are planning to finish atleast among the top six.

 

With a brilliant start against hosts, Rwanda must maintain their good start against other Group A opponents DR Congo, Mali, Ghana and Tunisia respectively.

 

The team was scheduled to face Tunisia on Friday afternoon by press time. In Maputo, the team will be relying on the trio of point guard Olivier Shyaka, Mohammed Rafiki and Eric Ngenzi who were without doubt the team’s outstanding players against Kenya in the zonal qualification matches.

 

In other matches played on the first day; Senegal beat Gaborone 73-69 while Cote d’Ivoire edged out Angola 60-51.

 

 

The U.S. women’s basketball team, evoking memories of the men’s Dream Team of 1992, put on a hoops masterclass in routing African champions Angola 90-38 at the Olympics on Monday.

It took a little while for the Americans to get in synch, but once they did the reigning four-times Olympic champions put on a fastbreak show to extend their Games winning streak to 35 matches.

The last time the U.S. women lost at an Olympics was 20 years ago in Barcelona when they came away with the bronze at the same Games where the newly-invited NBA stars swept to the gold beginning with a 116-48 romp over Angola’s men’s team.

Candace Parker led a balanced U.S. attack with 14 points on Monday while Sonia Guadalupe was top scorer for Angola with 10 points as they lost again in their second outing.

The game ended the second day of competition in the women’s tournament, with France’s stirring 74-70 overtime upset of Australia the highlight of the day.

That gave the French a 2-0 record while dropping triple silver medallists Australia to 1-1.

Britain (0-2) had the Olympic Basketball Arena rocking with support from the home crowd for most of the game before they faded at the end to lose 73-65 against Canada (1-1).

China improved to a 2-0 record with an easy 83-58 win against Croatia; Russia (2-0) won 69-59 against Brazil (0-2), and Turkey (2-0) won 61-57 over the Czech Republic (0-2).

 

 

Not many know much about the guy who dominated Game 1 of the NBA Finals, other than he’s pretty good.

 

Kevin Durant is a mystery even to some of the players trying to beat him.

 

“It’s one of those things where I respect his game, but I don’t know him, either. I know probably just as much as you guys know,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said to Kigalidunker.com.

 

He doesn’t seek the spotlight and it seldom comes to Oklahoma looking for him. He rarely makes much news and wouldn’t read it anyway, preferring the quiet life LeBron James gave up any hope of when he went to Miami and promised all those championships at that big welcoming party two summers ago.

 

Durant instead committed to remaining in Oklahoma City that same month, bypassing a big announcement by revealing on Twitter he had agreed to a contract extension.

 

A few more performances like he had in the opener, when he scored 17 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter of the Thunder’s 105-94 victory, and Durant could take his place as the league’s biggest star.

 

Yet he pays no more attention to praise than he does criticism — unless it comes from within his organization.

 

“I have faith in all those things that I do day in and day out — coming in, working hard, believing in myself and my teammates, and believing in the system,” Durant said.

 

“Whatever happens after that, it happens, as long as I know that I come in and give it my all every single day.

 

“I can’t worry about what other people say or expectations they put on me. It’s just all about how I view myself and how my teammates view me and we’ll go from there.”