Ivory Coast Out of Afro-Basketball Tourney over Funding Issues

Ivory Coast’s male side won’t be participating in the Afro U-18 Basketball championship owing to issues with funding.

The team, dubbed the Elephant Birds, were due to face Rwanda, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal and Angola in Group B in Mali before news of their withdrawal.

It comes after the West African outfit’s government announced they have no further cash to splash to get the side playing in Bamako.

The government’s technical arm –ministry of youth, sports and leisure – said the Senior Elephant Birds are the only team they could fund owing to a tight budget.

Breaking the news to the assembled local media, Agui Miezan Mathieu, the Ivory Coast basketball boss, said their relentless efforts to ensure the team’s departure to Mali proved to be in vain.

“We, FIBB, tried to get them off but we could not. There are people who have made promises to help us but nothing has been done, that’s why we decided to give up,” Agui Miezan Mathieu said.

This is not the first time Côte d’Ivoire is pulling out of Afro-basketball U-18 tournament after a similar occurrence two years ago.

Image: FIBA