2022 U18 African Championship - Team Profile: Senegal

DAKAR (Senegal) - Senegal have continued to push for the top podium of the biggest Africa youth championship, the U18 African Championship since winning the competition ten years ago (2012) in Mozambique but Mali seem to be the road block to young Lions from achieving a second title.

Having fallen short twice in 2018 in Bamako, Mali and in 2020 in Cairo, Egypt, losing on both occasions to the continent top-ranked team, Mali, Antananarivo 2022 presents another opportunity for Senegal to take another shot at a second title.

Senegal will enter this year's African Championship (August 4-15) with a goal of making an impact but also aiming to qualify for the 2023 FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary.

Senegal first podium finish came in 1982 as they finished in third place before winning in 2012 and two silver medals in 2018 and 2020.

Team: Senegal
FIBA Ranking U18 Boys: 18th (World); 2nd (Africa)
Last participation at U18 African Championship: 2020 (2nd place)
Best result at U18 African Championship: 1st (2012)
How they qualified for the 2022 U18 African Championship: Senegal earned an automatic ticket by finishing as runners-up Mali at the 2020 edition of the championship held in Cairo Egypt after losing narrowly to Mali by 82-80.
World: Senegal have taken part of the FIBA U19 World Cup three times in 2013, 2019 and 2021.
History/Qualification: Senegal will be making it's 8th appearances in the Africa biggest youth championship.

Head Coach: Head coach of University of Dakar Universite Club (DUC) in Senegal's Championship, Parfait Adjivon has experienced international competition on a number of occasions. He has served as assistant coach to Senegal at 2015 FIBA AfroBasket, where they finished fourth.

Under Adjivon DUC came up short of qualification to the Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs last March after finishing 1-4 in the Sahara Conference.  Adjivon was part of the technical bench of Senegal women's team at 2016 Rio Olympics.

Last year, Adjivon's Senegal finished seventh in the U19 Basketball World Cup thanks to a 3-4 record.

Outlook: This is a team that has produced some promising stars, with the latest being Khalifa Diop, a 2.12m (6ft 11 in) center who was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 39th pick in last month's NBA Draft.

The Semi-Finals is the least that can be expected from a team that has shown the potential in recent years, and have never hidden their ambition of winning the African Championship for the first time in a decade.

A thorough look into the 40-men Senegal's preliminary squad shows that Senegal might show up with competitive squad. They opened training cam on July 8, with the aim of building a a well-prepared team. A considerable number of pre-selected players come from the renowned SEED Academy and the NBA Academy Africa, an institution located on the outskirts of the capital Dakar.

FIBA