{"id":2161,"date":"2026-07-05T13:06:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T13:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=2161"},"modified":"2026-07-05T13:06:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T13:06:52","slug":"rwanda-ends-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers-winless-after-106-62-loss-to-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/05\/rwanda-ends-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers-winless-after-106-62-loss-to-nigeria\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda ends FIBA World Cup qualifiers winless after 106-62 loss to Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/xsppe5v0ilwh8v0jamsn_1_-dd558.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/xsppe5v0ilwh8v0jamsn_1_-dd558.webp 1000w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/xsppe5v0ilwh8v0jamsn_1_-dd558-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/xsppe5v0ilwh8v0jamsn_1_-dd558-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rwanda\u2019s men\u2019s national basketball team was eliminated from the 2026 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying campaign on Sunday, July 5, 2026, after suffering a 106-62 defeat to Nigeria in Luanda, finishing the tournament without a victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The loss marked Rwanda\u2019s sixth straight defeat in Group C, leaving the team bottom of the standings with six points after a winless qualifying run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nigeria controlled the game from the start, leading in every quarter and building a comfortable advantage that Rwanda never threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Nigerians led 25-14 after the first quarter and extended their dominance with a 24-15 second-quarter edge. They further widened the gap by outscoring Rwanda 31-15 in the third quarter before closing the game with a 26-18 final period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prince Twa led Rwanda with 14 points, while Uche Iroegbu top-scored for Nigeria with 17 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The defeat completed a difficult qualifying campaign for Rwanda, coached by Yves Murenzi and assisted by Sunny Munyandamutsa Niyomugabo and Aristide Mugabe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rwanda opened its qualifiers in November 2025 with an 82-70 loss to Guinea, followed by a 79-66 defeat to Tunisia and a 75-69 loss to Nigeria. In the second qualifying window in Luanda, Rwanda again fell to Guinea 89-67 and Tunisia 83-67 before Sunday\u2019s 106-62 defeat to Nigeria sealed its exit without a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The qualifying matches were played at Pavilh\u00e3o Multiusos de Luanda in Angola.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda\u2019s men\u2019s national basketball team was eliminated from the 2026 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying campaign on Sunday, July 5, 2026, after suffering a 106-62 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,27,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news","category-sports","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2163,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions\/2163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}