Jungo relishes Angola debut in African Qualifiers

LUANDA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers) - Angolan rookie Alexandre Joao Jungo announced his arrival on the senior national team with a commendable debut at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers in the Angolan capital last weekend. 

Thrown straight into the fire by Angola head coach Will Voigt, Jungo made his debut against Egypt and specifically faced tough opposition in the seven-foot duo of Omar Oraby and Haytham Khalifa in the paint, picking five rebounds and scoring a basket in 11 minutes of playing time. 

To his own admission, Jungo said that he was scared but seeing the fully packed Kilamba Arena to a tune of 11,500 home fans was a highly priced opportunity that thousands only dream about.

"AS A DEBUTANT, I WANT TO THANK THE OLDER PLAYERS FOR THE WAY THEY WELCOMED ME INTO THE TEAM. WE WORKED SO HARD TOGETHER AND SEEING THE WAY THE FANS SUPPORTED US RELENTLESSLY WAS HEARTWARMING" JungoJungo

The 6ft 6in (1.98m) forward, who is at the heart of Voigt's revamp of an aging Angolan side, wants to be a regular member of the senior national side. 

A dream of his to play at this level, Jungo is still coming to terms with the fact that he played on the same national team setup with big names like Leonel Paulo, Eduardo Mingas, Olimpio Cipriano and Carlos Morais to mention but a few. 

Jungo told FIBA.basketball in an exclusive interview that, "The more I think about it, the more I understand how much of an opportunity this means to me. I grew up watching them and to be alongside them in national team colors is really amazing."

"As a debutant, I want to thank the older players for the way they welcomed me into the team. We worked so hard and seeing the way the fans supported us relentlessly, was heartwarming."

Voigt admitted that, "We still have veterans on this team that we know will not be playing forever. It will be too hard if we just rolled out. At some point, they won’t play forever. We shall continue to watch the young players closely including those that did not make it to the final roster."

The American tactician is specifically interested in Silvio Sousa and Bruno Fernandes who made their debuts at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2016 in Belgrade but revealed that in the next months, he will also be monitoring Angolan youngsters across the world as he plans for next summer. 

The Second Phase of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Group C African Qualifiers continues in June 2018 in Egypt and according to Voigt, Angola will continue rolling out youngsters especially those based in the United States of America and Europe. 

FIBA