SA to host U23 Men's IWBF World Champs Qualifiers

The event serves as a qualifier to the much sought after one African spot at the 2025 IWBF U23 Men’s World Championship taking place in São Paulo, Brazil in June this year. 

Speaking exclusively to SABC Sport, Wheelchair Basketball South Africa (WBSA) director of high performance and coaching Gerrie Smith says they had to step in after Libya pulled out. 

"We are excited to welcome five other African countries to Johannesburg to take part in the U23 IWBF African Championships, and preparations are going well with the teams set to arrive around 3 February," said Smith.

"The countries taking part are South Africa, Egypt, Liberia, Libya, Kenya, and DR Congo, making it one of our biggest U23 African Champs in recent years, so there's a lot of excitement.

"South Africa have once again put up their hands to host the competition at the last minute when the IWBF Africa had to withdraw the hosting rights from Libya.

"And we look forward to welcoming people at Mandeville and support the South Africans in their quest to qualify for the World Championships."

Only the winner of the African qualifiers will represent the continent in Brazil, and Smith says it is crucial that South Africa, who are the defending champions, come to the party.

"It is vitally important for South Africa to put up a good showing [because] Africa is allocated one slot to take part in the World Championships, so only the winning team will progress," he added.

"SA are the defending champions, so they would go into the African Champs as one of the favourites, but they can expect stiff opposition from the likes of Libya, Egypt, and DR Congo, and even Kenya or lesser-known Liberia could cause some upsets.

"But, from a SA point of view, we're confident we have a strong team and we're hopeful the boys will do the business on the court and book their tickets to Sao Paulo later this year."

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