| GNBC basketball players make their return to Road To BAL. |
After the coronation for the national title acquired on Sunday, at the Mahamasina Sports Palace, the Gendarmerie Nationale Basketball Club (GNBC) club is in full preparation for its trip for the Road To BAL which will be played from October 15 to 20, in the Tanzanian port city of Dar-Es-Salaam.
The GNBC club, champion of Madagascar 2023, won its ticket on Sunday to represent the Big Island. Being in a single pool with Nairobi City Thunder of Kenya, Hawassa City of Ethiopia, Beau Vallon Heat of Seychelles, Urunani of Burundi and JKT Stars of Tanzania, GNBC of Madagascar is obliged to achieve a good result because alone, the first two teams with the most points are qualified for the following phases.
“For this first phase, we will try to give everything in order to win one of the first two places. We are already aware of the size of our opponents, but we promise to give our best to repeat the great performance of 2019 where we already reached the BAL,” confides Lova Navalona Rahharidera, Head coach of the GNBC.
In 2019, the Madagascar champion, GNBC, qualified for the semi-finals of the Basketball Africa League qualifiers after a hard-won victory (87-63) against JKT from Tanzania. Four players scored in double figures in this great performance, including Constant Fabrice Mandimbison who totaled nineteen points and grabbed 14 rebounds. His leadership on both ends of the floor helped his teammates stay in the game and come back strong in the second half.
Elly Randriamampionona scored twenty points while Solonirina Ramarosata and Francis Ramanampamonjy Mory added twelve and ten points respectively to secure GNBC’s second deserved victory in the tournament.
Fabrice, Mory and Elly are still there to share their experiences. But given the evolution of African basketball over the last four years, GNBC players are required to give their all to write a new history.
Donné Raherinjatovo
