10 players to watch at FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup 2019

8 Nov 2019

KAMPALA (Uganda) - The FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup is back for its 3rd edition and has more stars than the Rise of Skywalker.

Godwin David (Nigeria’s men)
David has been there, done that. He won the competition back in 2017. He’s also played at the World Cup last year. The 23-year-old can shoot and has plenty of juice to put someone on a poster.

Soraya Degheidy (Egypt’s women)
Baller alert! The 24-year-old was the revelation of the FIBA Women's AfroBasket this year. She finished 5th overall in scoring and broke the Internet with her mad handles, fakes and behind-the-back passes. Will Soraya be one of the stars in Uganda? No Degheidy, no doubt!

Ahmed Elsabbagh (Egypt’s men)
At 34, this song of an African basketball legend is no doubt the most experienced 3x3 player on the continent. He is the only player in Kampala who has played at the World Cup (twice) and in the professional tour (the World Tour) both in 2016. Elsabbagh is a crafty player who loves to drive to the basket and is dreaming of a medal after finishing 4th and 6th in the last 2 editions.

Ritah Imanishimwe (Uganda’s women)
At just 23 years old, Ritah may have played the most 3x3 events of all participants. She’s played at 2 World Cups already and won bronze at the Africa Cup back in 2017. Playing at home this year, the lightning quick Ugandan is not playing the losers’ final.

Emmanuel Isungu (Democratic Republic of Congo’s men)

We don’t always see eye-to-eye with the 24-year-old’s fashion choices but there’s no denying Isungu is one of the best shot blockers in Africa. Get ready to see the 6ft 8in (2.03m) star in the Top 10 Plays of the tournament.

Natalie Mwangale (Kenya’s women)
The pocket-sized Mwangale (5ft 5in, 1.65m) is there to put Kenya on the 3x3 map. The 26-year-old has some serious handles and always plays hard. The kind of player to average a triple-five in 3x3.

Ifunanya Okoro (Nigeria’s women)
All she does is win. The 20-year-old played in four 3x3 events in her career and won every one of them. The biggest win of them all happened last August when she scored the game-winner in the final of the African Games in a thriller against Mali. Nigeria did not even win a medal last year at the Africa Cup. Okoro is here to continue her winning streak.

Mark Opio (Uganda’s men)
The 32-year-old vet is back at the Africa Cup after leading Uganda to the silver medal last year. This year he’ll be home with his bag of tricks, including a filthy crossover. Defenders, beware.

Ely Randriamampionona (Madagascar’s men)
Dude has more handles than letters in his name. And he can shoot like no one else (he won the shoot-out contest in the 2017 edition. He also finished top scorer at the event). Ely comes back to the Africa Cup with a lot of confidence after leading Madagascar to gold at the 2019 African Games this summer. We would also appreciate if he could share the ball with teammate Constant Mandimbison.

Assetou Sissoko (Mali’s women)
The 19-year-old has a bright future. She’s already the total package on the floor and got some valuable experience playing at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup Qualifier earlier this year. She won gold at the 3x3 event of the African Youth Games last year and now is looking to add another title for Mali, who won the event both in 2017 and 2018.