Teen Silvio De Sousa called up for Angola's AfroBasket preparation

LUANDA (AfroBasket 2015) - Silvio De Sousa's basketball career has risen faster than most 16-year-olds would expect.

In just two years, the 2.03m power forward went from helping Angola beat Egypt in the Final of the 2013 FIBA Africa U16 Championship to being named in the 15-player preliminary squad of the African champions ahead of AfroBasket 2015.

The 16-team event will take in Tunisian cities of Nabeul and Tunis from 19-30 August.

As well as being named MVP of the U16 continental championship, the youngster has starred for Angola at 2014 FIBA U17 World Champions in which he led the Africans with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Earlier this year, Silvio, as he is known in Angolan basketball circles, featured at the NBA Basketball Without Borders Global camp in New York and the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions.

The Luanda native is no longer an unknown coming off the Angolan outfit Primeiro D'Agosto ranks. He is now a high-school student-athlete at Montverde Academy in Florida.

While Silvio is part of the preliminary squad confirmed by Angola new head coach Moncho Lopez on Wednesday, veteran Joaquim Gomes has been left out.

Although the 34-year-old former MVP of AfroBasket 2007 has been an emblematic figure in the African basketball over the course of the past decade in helping Angola claim four continental titles, coach Lopez decided to go with Silvio in his place.

Gomes' limited playing time at 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup may have not helped his cause to extend his celebrated playing career with Angola, although he remains active for his Primeiro D'Agosto club.

For a country that aims to build a new generation of players, Silvio's call-up translates into a new beginning for the 11-time African champions.

Meanwhile, in the absence of injured point guard Milton Barros, Lopez has recalled Domingos Bonifacio, who last represented Angola at AfroBasket 2011.

Bonifacio helped Petro de Luanda beat Recreativo do Libolo in Game 7 of the Angolan BIC Basket League Final on Tuesday.

Carlos Morais, the MVP of AfroBasket 2013, and Felizardo Ambrosio are back in action of the Angolans after missing out the last edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup due to injuries.

If Silvio - the youngest player among a team that includes six players over the age of 30 - makes it onto the final 12-player roster, he will become the youngest player to ever feature for Angola's senior team in an official competition.

According to Lopez, Angola will open their AfroBasket 2015 preparations on Monday 22 June in Luanda.

They will continue their training camp in Spain, where they expect to face Venezuela and a Spain junior team.

Angola preliminary squad for AfroBasket 2015: Felizardo Ambrosio, Domingos Bonifacio, Armando Costa, Olimpio Cipriano,Silvio De Sousa, Roberto Fortes, Valdelicio Joaquim, Edmir Lucas, Eduardo Mingas, Reggie Moore, Carlos Morais, Yanick Moreira, Edson Ndoniema, Leonel Paulo and Hermenegildo Santos.

FIBA