InterClube de Luanda aim for fifth African title
26/11/2015
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InterClube de Luanda aim for fifth African Champions Cup Women title

LUANDA (African Champions Cup Women) - Angola's InterClube de Luanda have won three of the last four editions of the African Champions Cup Women (ACCW) and will be chasing their fifth continental title when this year's event gets underway on Friday.

This year's event runs from 26 November to 6 December in the Angolan capital city of Luanda where 12 teams from across the African continent are expected to do battle for the top prize in FIBA Africa's top women's clubs competition.

Reigning champions InterClube de Luanda are clearly the team to beat, while four others - local and continental rivals Primeiro D'Agosto, Nigerian sides of Dolphins and First Bank and Ferroviario de Maputo of Mozambique - look to be their fiercest competitors.

Angolan champions D'Agosto have kept Mozambique international Leia Dongue, signed Senegal's Maimouna Diarra and count with half of the Angolan national team that finished fourth at AfroBasket Women 2015.

Meanwhile, Nigerian side First Bank, who last won the ACCW back in 2009, signed Senegal's Aya Traore - the MVP at the latest edition of the African Championship - and also have Nigerian international Nkechi Akashili in their ranks.


Nkechi Akashili (NGR)

Last week, in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Cameroon's Astride Gano played a major role for INJS who finished top of Africa Zone 4 to book their place in Lunalong with INSS from the DR Congo.

Meanwhile, InterClube de Luanda remain favourites and seem prepared for the battle. They made sure to keep playmaker Italee Lucas, extended head coach Manuel Sousa 'Necas' - who guided to team to the 2014 ACCW title - and brought back Sequoia Holmes

Tournament hosts Desportivo do Maculusso return to the competition for the first time since 2011, while Kenyan champions United States International University (USIU) were granted a wild card invitation.

For the first time since 2011, not a single North African team is taking part in the ACCW.

List of teams competing in the African Champions Cup Women (to be confirmed): InterClube de Luanda, Primeiro D’Agosto and Desportivo Maculusso (Angola), Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) (Uganda), United States International University (USIU) of Kenya, First Bank and Dolphins (Nigeria), Ferroviario de Maputo (Mozambique), Berco Stars (Burundi), INJS (Cameroon), INSS and RADI (DR Congo).

Click here for full coverage of the 2015 African Champions Cup Women.

FIBA