Battle line drawn for six teams in West Division of Road to BAL in Conakry
All is set for the West Division of the Road to BAL 2021 in the Guinean capital city of Conakry as six teams are set to do battle for four tickets available at this stage.
CONAKRY (Guinea) - All is set for the West Division of the Road to BAL 2021 in the Guinean capital city of Conakry as six teams are set to do battle for four tickets available at this stage.
Guinea is playing host to Groups A and B this weekend and it promises to be full of thrills and excitement for followers of the game.
In Group A, the contest will be between AS Police of Mali and the home side SLAC. The other two teams - Predio Basketball of Cape Verde and Boufarik of Algeria that were in the group failed to make it to Conakry.
AS Police are not new to the pressures having played in inaugural BAL.
Cote d'Ivoire international player Stephane Konate will star for AS Police of Mali
AS Police reached the BAL qualifiers after winning their third consecutive national title after defeating Attar Club in the Finals.
Their opponent in Group A is Guinean side SLAC. In 2019, SLAC won their fourth domestic championship and qualified as the national champion of Guinea.
SLAC played in the 2020 BAL Qualifying Tournaments with Serbian head coach Zeljko Zecevic who is still in charge of the team and now assisted by Egypt's Mohamed El Prence Ahmed.
The teams in Group A will play the best of two games to determine who gets the first and second tickets.
However in Group B, it is a complete field of four teams that parades Académie d'Or des Archers of Burkina Faso, ASPAC of Benin, AS Nigelic of Niger and Societe Omnisport de L' Armee (SOA) of Cote d' Ivoire.
ASPAC and AS Nigelec are two sides that are used to each other having competed at this level last year. While ASPAC ended their journey in the First Round, AS Nigelec got ousted in the Second Round.
Newcomers Academie and SOA will have to showcase their talents and make a good impression if they desire to punch the ticket for the next round.
Société Omnisports de l'Armée, commonly known as SOA based in Yamoussoukro were the surprise champions of the Cote d' Ivoire championship after defeating high profile ABC Fighters in two games. They look set to bring the same grit and gut to make a difference in Conakry.
FIBA