After the first qualifying window in Egypt, Ndranto Rakotonanahary, one of Ankoay’s coaches, is optimistic about Afrobasket 2025. But a lot of work remains to be done.
The Ankoay are ranked third in Pool D after the first qualifying window for Afrobasket 2025. How do you find the level of Madagascar’s three opponents?
The level is very high, given that the other three teams are big names in Africa. Ivory Coast (CIV) and Egypt are globalists, without forgetting that the Central African Republic (CAR) has already been African champion. On the pitch, this level is palpable in each match, which was difficult, technical and above all tactical.
Egypt remains a bête noire of Malagasy basketball, regardless of the category that crosses it. What are we missing to compete against the Egyptians?
Egypt is a great basketball team, very structured, very technical and very disciplined in the execution of systems, both in attack and defense. There is no denying that she is way above the rest in terms of size, skill and technique. We are on the right track, but we also need a lot of international matches of this caliber to get used to this level.
The Ankoay had the opportunity to beat the Ivorians, but they were missing a few small details. What are they ?
We stood up to the CIV throughout the match. We have found the right method to mitigate the effectiveness of his attacks, both inside and outside. Too bad our skill was not up to par in 2 or 3 point shooting. The problem is that we cannot surpass them or even equalize them. Opposite, the CIV was constantly trying to escape from our traps. And the chess game was played at the end of the 4th quarter: they proved that they have great players, the two shots behind the arc from Zouzoua (N°45) were fatal for us.
Critics from Malagasy supporters after the defeat against the Ivorians judge that the two coaches failed in the choice of strategies, especially in replacing players. What do you think ?
Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but that’s a layman’s opinion. The truth is simpler: it is the first time in its history that Madagascar has stood up to the great African basketball nations. It’s very easy to criticize, but if we got to where we are, there was a huge amount of work behind this result. If we weren’t more skillful, the results would have been different. It’s basketball, and you learn in hindsight, but there are no regrets, it’s more pride.
Against the Egyptians, Livio missed out on his match by playing without scoring anything. Your explanation?
Livio is our captain, one of the pillars of the team whether off or on the pitch. Players are human, there are ups and downs, days with and days without. Even great international players like Curry or LeBron James can completely miss their game. We trust our managers and we tried to integrate other players to compensate for this lack without affecting Livio’s confidence. He subsequently proved that we can count on him.
Is qualification for Afrobasket 2025 possible for us?
We are confident about qualifying for Afrobasket 2025. However, we need to work more, do scouting and make the necessary adjustments, and above all organize more groupings and friendly matches (against worthy opponents obviously) to improve the synergy of the team and the experience of high intensity matches.
Donné Raherinjatovo