The match was witnessed by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who delivered the trophy to the winning side.
For much of the game, the two teams seemed finely balanced – but the Mozambicans never managed to overcome the gap of four points which the Nigerians opened in the first quarter. The second quarter was drawn, Mozambique pulled a point back in the third quarter, but in the end the Nigerians finished five points in the lead.
Despite missing the gold medal, the President of the Mozambican Basketball Federation, Francisco Mabjaia praised the performance of the team. “It’s not every day that you reach the final of a competition like this”, he said.
He also thanked the Mozambican public who had given “fantastic” support to the team, turning up in their thousands to all the matches. Indeed, while in many other sports the competitors had played to only a handful of spectators, for basketball the stadiums were always packed.
In the match for the bronze medal, played immediately before the final, Angola beat Algeria by 74-58.
On Saturday, Mozambique also took a bronze medal in the taekwondo championship. In the men’s over 87 kilo category, Kelvin Viriato beat Mbembo Davy of Cameroon and shared the bronze medal with Pierre Nyok Nyok of Cameroon. Zoukou Lea of Ivory Coast took the gold medal, and Nigerian Chukwumerue Chika won silver.
Mozambique thus ended the games with a haul of 12 medals. They were:
Silver
Kurt Couto, athletics, men’s 400 metre hurdles
Men’s basketball team
Miryam Corsini, swimming, women’s 50 metre breaststroke
Karate, Women’s kata team
Bronze
Maria Muchavo, athletics, women’s 200 metres T11/T12 (for disabled athletes)
Guifutela Cremildo, boxing, flyweight 52 kilos
Watch Antonio, boxing, bantamweight, 58 kilos
Vania Vilhete, chess, women’s pairing
Karate, men’s kata team
Maria Mabjaia, sailing, optimist women
Kelvin Viriato, taekwondo, men’s over 87 kilos
Joaquim Lobo and Mussa Tualibudine, canoeing, men’s 1000 metre double canoe
In the final of the men’s handball tournament, Egypt beat Angola by 24 point to 20, with the bronze medal going to Algeria which beat Senegal by the narrowest of margins (25-24).
In the women’s handball, Angola took the gold, convincingly defeating Congo by 42-23. Cameroon took the bronze medal, beating Algeria 26-20.
Post published in: Sport