Olympic Qualifying Tournament: Inside Egypt's Training Camp

Olympic Qualifying Tournament: Inside Egypt's Training Camp

The Pharaohs Gear Up for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Abdelrahman Nader's Debut

The Egyptian men's national team, known as the Pharaohs, have a date with destiny in their quest for an Olympic slot as they compete in the Games qualifying tournament slated for Greece.

Scheduled from July 2nd to July 7th, the tournament will feature teams divided into two groups of three. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, where they will compete for a place in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Egypt is positioned in Group B, alongside the Dominican Republic and hosts Greece, while Group A includes Croatia, New Zealand, and Slovenia.

The Egyptian national team roster was finalised two weeks before the competition, with coach Henrik Rödl including former NBA player and current Australia NBL star Abdelrahman Nader in his 16-player squad.

Nader's highly anticipated debut for the Pharaohs has been eagerly anticipated. An Egyptian-American professional basketball player, Nader had been expected to join the Pharaohs in their last three assignments: the FIBA Basketball World Cup, a tournament in Qatar, and the AfroBasket Qualifiers. Unfortunately, he missed all three events.

During the World Cup, Nader was nursing a knee injury, and he had to watch the rest of the squad from the sidelines during the AfroBasket Qualifiers in Cairo (in December 2023), awaiting clearance to play.

"The team represented Egypt so well, showing our talent level and how competitive we can be on the world stage. I am excited to go to war with my brothers on the court soon," Nader told FIBA.basketball on the sidelines of the AfroBasket Qualifiers.

In addition to the former Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Phoenix Suns player, coach Rödl will rely on the talents of key Pharaohs players such as Al Ahly's Omar Oraby and Ehab Amin, Zamalek's Mohab Yasser, Ahmed Yasser, and Omar Hesham.

Other notable players include Yusuf Shehat and Haytham Kamal from Al Ittihad Alexandria, Anas Mahmoud from Al Ahly Tripoli in Libya, and Switzerland-based Omar El-Sheikh.

The FIBA basketball tournaments will be contested by 24 national teams across Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico, and Spain over five days between July 2nd and 7th.

The teams in each group will play against each other in a single round-robin format. After the Group Phase, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Final Phase.

The first-place team will play the second-place team from the other group in the semifinals. The winners of each semifinal will face off in the final to determine the winner of each OQT.