Basketball in Africa

After spending several years in the oblivion, the Cameroon national basketball team is gradually coming out of the lethargy in which it has been sleeping. The male national basketball won the silver medal during the African championship in Angola 2007, thereby propelling the country to the lime light of basketball in Africa. Today Cameroon is among the top ten teams in Africa in the 9th position and are ranked 50th at the world stage.

The country has no experience in the Olympic Games in basketball and the furthest they went was taking part in the pre-Olympic tournament ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately, the country couldn't make to the final phase of the competition. Cameroon has equally never taken part in a world basketball championship and has taken part in the FIBA African Championship only four times.

The best performance recorded in the competition was the silver medal grabbed in Angola in 2007 thanks to the effort of stars mostly based in France and United States of America. Of the 12 players who took part in the Angolan expedition, only two were locally based from Phoenix basketball club in Douala. The heroes included team coach, Lazare Adingono, Alexandre N'kembe who plays for La Rochelle Rupella in France, Brice Vounang (SPO Rouen, France), Christian Bayang, Jean Pierre Elong (Phoenix Douala), Joachim Ekanga (Chalon-Sur-Saone), Joseph Owona (JSA Bordeaux), Luc Richard Mbah a Moute- (University of California, Los Angeles) ,Franck Ndongo(Virginia Commonwealth University), Parfait Bitee (University of Rhode Island), Patrick Bouli (Manhattan College) Romeo Dide Tatchoum (Brinkford Tbilisi) and Gaston Essengue (University of Nevada - Las Vegas)