Khalifa among four youngsters still with shot for Egypt team
CAIRO (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - The 2001-born Aly Khalifa still has a chance to play at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship as the 15-year-old is one of four younger level players
CAIRO (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - The 2001-born Aly Khalifa still has a chance to play at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship as the 15-year-old is one of four younger level players on Egypt’s 15-man preliminary squad.
Khalifa is joined on the 15-player list by the trio of 2000-born Abdelrahman Abdelmaged, Youssef Abdrabou and Omar Elalfy. Abdelmaged and Abdrabou both played for Egypt last summer at the 2015 FIBA Africa U16 Championship.
| Egypt 15-player squad for 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship | |||
| Abdelrahman Abdelmaged | Youssef Abdrabou | Marwan Eesa | Omar Elalfy |
| Hassan Elkhouga | Omar Karkoura | Ahmed Khalaf | Aly Khalifa |
| Abdelrahman Mohamed | Esam Mostafa | Tarek Raafat | Mohamed Ramadan |
| Mohamed Rezk | Ziad Shehata | Mohamed Youssef | |
Khalifa, who is young enough to play at the 2018 FIBA U17 World Championship as well, is especially interesting for Egypt head coach Branislav Jemc because of his size. The youngster is listed at 2.00m tall, which makes him one of only three players 2.00m or taller - along with captain Ahmed Khalaf (2.06m) and Mohamed Rezk (2.04m).
Khalaf will be the clear leader of the team as he will become the first player in the history of the competition to appear in two FIBA U17 World Championships. The Giza native collected 8.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.8 blocks at Dubai 2014 as a 15-year-old.
In total, Jemc has 10 players of the 12 who won the FIBA Africa U16 title last summer in Mali.
FIBA