Diabate chasing further success in Kigali

KIGALI (Rwanda) - Kigali has become a special place for Cote d'Ivoire talisman Souleyman Diabate, and he hopes to build on his success there when he returns to the Rwandan capital with his national team for the 2021 FIBA AfroBasket in August.

The 16-nation Africa's flagship tournament will take place at Kigali Arena from August 24 to September 5.

"I JUST WANT TO WIN THE AFROBASKET WHEN I COME BACK HERE [KIGALI], THAT'S OUR MAIN GOAL AS A TEAM."
Souleyman Diabate

A few weeks ago, the 33-year-old point guard took Kigali by a storm helping Egypt giants Zamalek beat Tunisian champions US Monastir to clinch the first-ever Basketball Africa League (BAL) trophy. 

The 1.85m (6ft 1in) guard sank in three of his six three-point attempts en route to a 14-point performance off the bench as the historic Egyptian club closed their BAL campaign undefeated in six games. Diabate averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 assists in five games.

It was one of the major trophies in his career so far, but he feels that there is an unfinished business before he can consider retirement.

"Unlike our predecessors, my generation has never the African Championship," Diabate replied to FIBA.basketball when asked about his short-term goals, adding: "I just want to win the AfroBasket when I come back here [Kigali], that's our main goal as a team. Maybe we are going to add some new players."

The two-time  winners of the AfroBasket in the 1980s have been drawn in Group C alongside Africa No.1 team Nigeria, Mali and Kenya.

It's a group that Diabate envisioned for a team vying to make history: "For me, this is a very good group. Mali is tough to play against; I don't know much about the Kenyan team; but facing Nigeria in the group stages is a good thing for us to be able to access our level and potential as a team."

The Ivorians trail Nigeria 1-3 over their last four meetings dating back to the 2017 AfroBasket, but it's the 'Elephants' win against the D'Tigers in the second round of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers that gives Diabate hope and confidence. 

"For me, Nigeria is the best team in Africa. Even if they have won only one AfroBasket [2015].

"It's difficult to play against them because they have so many good players who can make a difference at any given moment in the game, but, at the same time, it's easy to play them because there's so much ego on that team. So many good players don't mean they can play together. That's what makes it easy to play against Nigeria. Opponents can explore their weakness of individualism."

The winners of Groups A, B, C and D advance to the Quarter-Finals while the runners-up from each group will play an elimination series against the third-placed teams for the last four spots to complete the Last Eight line-ups.

For six-time AfroBasket participant Diabate a good start to the competition will be key to their aspirations.

"We are going to win as many games as possible," he stressed.

Cote d'Ivoire closed this year's AfroBasket Qualifiers with a en encouraging 6-0 edge, which included two straight wins against Cameroon in Cameroon.

"Beating Cameroon (twice) in their home court boosted out confidence levels," there is no doubts about that, Diabate pointed out.

FIBA