Nimba County – Liberia’s male and female youth basketball national teams have resolved their travel issues ahead of their participation in the Federation of International Basketball Zone-Three qualifiers on Wednesday, but will only arrive in Ivory Coast on Tuesday evening.
By Thomas Kojo Roulhac, Contributor
There had been fears earlier that the team’s departure would be delayed due to a lack of funds at the appropriate time.
Liberia’s squad was due to arrive in Ivory Coast on Monday, but their bus remained stranded in Paynesville City, where they gathered for an early departure.
The competition, scheduled for July 31 to August 4, 2024, will feature the male and female under-18 teams from each member country of FIBA Zone-3. The best-performing nations in both categories will earn automatic qualifications to the South Africa 2025 youth championship.
Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo are expected to participate in the week-long event.
A spokesman for the Liberia Basketball Association (LBA), Sylvester S. Tamba, said: “We hope to leave our base during the day ahead of the commencement of the tournament. We will then travel by road on a charter bus to Abidjan. We expect to arrive in Abidjan very late Tuesday night and hope to have a chance to train before our game,” he explained.
This is far from an ideal preparation for Liberia, which is about to participate in its first international basketball competition since 2007.
Recently, FIBA cleared Liberia to compete in international basketball competitions, ten years after a ban was imposed to address leadership issues that plagued the country’s basketball fraternity.
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