Madagascar aiming for a podium finish at 2022 FIBA U18 African Championship

Kiady Razanamahenina

In their unique appearance at the FIBA AfroBasket U18, in 2014, on home soil, Madagascar finished at a so-so fifth place. For their second run, once again in front of their fans, they want nothing less than a spot in the final. Back in 2014, Madagascar have quite some credit to their names. Led by the likes of Kiady Razanamahenina (185-PG-1996), Elly Randriamampionona (198-F-1997), and Livio Ratianarivo (1996), who became pillars of the men's senior national team, the home boys started their campaign by defeating Mali, then Benin, before giving in to Angola in the Quarter-Final Round. They made it to the classification round, where they claimed a precious victory over Mozambique and Cote d'Ivoire to clinch fifth place. This is somewhat unsatisfactory for the boys, suggests Angelot Razafiarivony, who heads both the men's and women's side. So much so that he sees this year's run as an opportunity to do better than before. 'We will give everything to be in the finals,' says the coach, speaking to fiba.basketball. In fact, he knows that they will have a special ally : their home crowd. 'We know that they will be here to support us and give us that extra piece of motivation we need. It is only fair that we give them a medal in return.' To make sure they can reach the top they have called in two overseas players. M'Madi Mathias from Grand Chalon, France, and Davida Raharinaivo, who plies his trade at New World Academic in the USA are the new additions to an already talented roster. 'We have called them in, so they bring some more substance to our game,' adds the coach. For the time being, coach Razafiarivony wants to bet on the winning horse by calling in some 21 players before picking the lucky 12 that will make it to the final roster. All of them are undergoing intensive training sessions at the Academie Nationale des Sports, in the capital city of Antananarivo, ahead of the grand gathering. The Malagasy Federation has also appealed to Senegalese Cheikh Sarr, who is currently overviewing various aspects of the Malagasy game. He will be by their side till July 17. During their time with coach Sarr, the boys will have two daily intensive training sessions. 'We are putting in every possible effort, and the team is responding quite well. This is why we're optimistic and adamant about our chances,', notes coach Razafiarivony. With all this said, a medal would only crown the current Malagasy generation for their efforts. 'As I said, we're very lucky to play in front of our home crowd. It will give us an incredible advantage and we would like to reward our fans with something memorable. So, when we step foot on the court, it will be only to win,' says Razafiarivony in conclusion.
Courtesy of: fiba.basketball


Tags : KIADY RAZANAMAHENINA, AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS U18 BASKETBALL, MADAGASCAR NATIONAL TEAM