{"id":84228,"date":"2023-03-16T10:21:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T10:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2023\/03\/16\/1997-the-return-of-the-lions-of-senegal-to-the-roof-of-african-basketball\/"},"modified":"2023-03-16T10:21:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T10:21:17","slug":"1997-the-return-of-the-lions-of-senegal-to-the-roof-of-african-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2023\/03\/16\/1997-the-return-of-the-lions-of-senegal-to-the-roof-of-african-basketball\/","title":{"rendered":"1997, the return of the Lions of Senegal to the roof of African basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"
The date of August 3, 1997 resists time and time once more within the Senegalese basketball household. Yr of the final continental coronation of the Senegalese males’s crew, 1997 has nonetheless not been erased from the cabinets. Eleven editions later, Aly Ngon\u00e9 Niang’s gang stays the final to be on the highest step of the rostrum of the African males’s championships. An immense pleasure for the previous chief of the Lions throughout an version with a number of eventualities.<\/p>\n
African reference in males’s basketball from 1968 to 1980 with 7 finals in a row, together with 4 received, Senegal is forward on this hierarchy over the subsequent 15 years. \u201cAngola had dominated us within the remaining in 1995 in Algeria and was our most important opponent with Nigeria and Egypt, explains Aly Ngon\u00e9 Niang, chief of the Lions in 1997, interviewed by Sport Information Africa. She was starting to have a stranglehold on African basketball. Regardless of the defeat within the remaining, we knew their crew and the gamers of Angola effectively. In 1997, we had been decided to finish their reign as a result of we’re at dwelling.<\/em>. In 1997, continuity was the important thing phrase. The employees led by Bassirou Badji and Ousmane Sarr retains the spine of the group from the 1995 version. Eight of the 12 gamers had been a part of the Algerian journey two years earlier. “Holding the construction of 1995 was important,” says Aly Ngon\u00e9 Niang. This crew was a household. Even within the difficulties we had been all collectively\u201d<\/em>he added.<\/p>\n On the identical topic :<\/em> Basket-Senegal: prognosis of repeated failures<\/strong><\/p>\n A spirit of solidarity put to the take a look at in the course of the group stage. In entrance of their supporters, the Lions bow in opposition to the D-Tigers of Nigeria. A bitter defeat. \u201cAfter we misplaced to Nigeria, we had been very upset. On the finish of this match, on the bus to succeed in the lodge, the supporters known as us names. On the lodge, nobody had dinner. The employees did the whole lot however none of us needed to eat. The defeat had caught in our throats\u201d<\/em>, says the previous chief of Senegal. He pursues : \u201cAfter we discovered Nigeria within the remaining, we stated to ourselves that this time we aren’t going to let it go. This cup couldn’t escape us. We had a gathering earlier than the match to say that this remaining was the possibility of our lives. We needed to beat Nigeria. We had been overwhelmed. We performed as a bunch, everybody gave themselves physique and soul. That is what allowed us to change into African champions. \u00bb<\/em><\/p>\nHost the match to regain the throne 17 years later<\/h3>\n