Uganda men's basketball team, the Silverbacks is in a training camp in Egypt ahead of the FIBA 2021 Afrobasket Qualifiers slated for November 27th-29th.
The Silverbacks must win at least one game from the first round and avoid being the last team after round two to qualify for the finals in Kigali, Rwanda next year.
Head Coach George Galanopoulos has joined the team for the camp and is quite happy with the squad in place for the first round.
“This squad is a little bit deeper, we have many returning players both local and foreign-based, and a couple of new faces as well," Galanapolous said in an interview over the weekend.
“We have a little bit of more shooting and versatility. I am excited to see how the style of play will fit this personnel and vice versa,” he added.
Eric Rwahwire, Ishmail Wainwright and Titus Lual are some of the players set to play under Galanapolous for the first time.
Galanapolous will be taking charge of the Silverbacks for the fourth time since taking the head coach role in 2017.
His last outing with the team saw them fall short of qualifying to the AFROCAN after losing to Egypt and Kenya in the qualifiers hosted in Kampala.
Uganda is drawn in group E of the Qualifiers with hosts Egypt, Morocco and Cape Verde and Galanapolous knows his side is in for a tough three days of basketball.
“Every single game is going to be tough," he said.
"It's going to be a grind starting with Egypt. They have a good roster on paper, Morocco is rock-solid and Cape Verde is on the rise as well.
“No opponent should be taken for granted and every game is important so we are going to approach each game as such. Hopefully we can come out on the right side.”
Uganda will face their toughest opponent and host Egypt first before taking on Morocco and closing the tournament against Cape Verde.
Both Egypt and Morocco have defeated Uganda previously while Cape Verde cannot be taken for granted either.
Uganda is looking to make it three straight Afrobasket tournaments having featured both in 2015 and 2017.
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The writer is a Freelance Sports Reporter based in Kampala, Uganda. Follow him on Twitter (@Emanzi20), Facebook (Ndyamuhaki J. Emanzi) and Instagram (@emanzi20).