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Joe Apu
Nigeria maintained the top spot in Africa and 23rd position in the world, following the latest FIBA ranking released yesterday.
The closest African nation to Nigeria (425.9) is Angola (325.3) who are ranked 32 in the world and second in Africa, while Tunisia (321.5) is at the 33rd spot, Senegal (310.3) in 35th spot, Cote d’ Ivoire (231.5) at 48th spot and Egypt (163.8) at the 60th position.
The biggest risers on the African continent are South Sudan that moved 16 spots to finish 107 in the world, Kenya moved 11spots to climb to 112 and Burundi moved up nine places to 126 on the ladder.
However, ranking leaders USA (781.6) and the seventh-ranked Greece (647.4) were the only national teams from the previous top 10 to win both of their February games, holding on to their respective positions. There was some movement at the top end of ranking, with Serbia (661.3) leapfrogging France (656.5) into fifth place. Both teams got their FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers campaigns underway by splitting their games – Serbia beat Finland but lost to Georgia, while France got the better of Montenegro, but had to acknowledge defeat to Germany.
Czech Republic (591.5) and Brazil (589.4) both gained a spot each in the world ranking, with the move being of extra significance for Brazil, who capitalised on their strong start of their FIBA AmeriCup 2021 qualifiers campaign to move up to the top 10, following a pair of victories over Uruguay.
The most recent ranking update is the final one ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and will be used to determine the seeding for the Tokyo 2020 Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament Draw.
