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FIBA World Cup: Nigeria’s win inspired our qualification, admits Ivorian Diabate

“Les Elephants” of Cote d’Ivoire inspiring point guard, Souleyman Diabate has admitted that the overwhelming victory over Nigeria’s D’Tigers prompted their resurgence to qualify for their fourth appearance at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Diabate who currently plies his trade with Nancy in the French second tier (LNB Pro B), said that beating Nigeria boosted their confidence going up against Mali and Rwanda.

“The team created a Whatsapp group and everyday we’ll talk to ourselves about how it was possible for us to go through. Obviously the odds were against us playing a very good Nigeria team. That was the most important game for us and the moment we won it, all our doubts went away. We won with a good margin and that boosted our morale. We knew that if we could beat Nigeria, then we could overpower Mali and Rwanda and
that’s what happened. It’s a special night for us,” Diabate told FIBA website.

He added: “”We had a difficult time preparing for this window. We kept motivating ourselves, knowing that we could do it. The organization around the team wasn’t proper but we fought for this qualification and we’re proud of ourselves.”

The point guard said that playing at the World Cup is a different ball entirely. “The World Cup isn’t the qualifiers, we need to play some good teams and prepare well. We just don’t want to go there for the sake of it, we want to do something exceptional in China,” he said.

Cote d’Ivoire ended the last window of the African Qualifiers with three wins in as many games. But their resilience and courage was forged in the fires of several hardships.

Cote d’Ivoire alongside Angola, Tunisia, Nigeria and Senegal will represent Africa at the 2019 World Cup in China slated for 31 August-15 September.

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