KAMPALA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Uganda will attend a basketball tournament in Turkey next month to warm up for the 2019 FIBA World Cup quarliers.
The Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) on Tuesday announced, "Our team will camp in Turkey and also play in an eight-team invitational tournament."
"The camp will help us shape-up better ahead of the second leg of the World Cup qualifiers in Nigeria," FUBA President Ambrose Tashobya told Xinhua.
The Ugandan men's team is expected to travel to Turkey on June 14.
Tashobya said that in the tournament, Uganda will face Cameroon on June 15 before meeting Iran and Bahrain on the subsequent in Group B. African giants Angola, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait are in Group A.
"This is a good chance for the players to get more international exposure before we head to Nigeria for yet another round of the World Cup qualifiers. It is always good to give the players and technical team these kinds of opportunity," added Tashobya.
Coach Mande Juruni said he was happy that they will have another chance to test the team before heading to Nigeria.
"We must go and work hard in Turkey so that we travel to Nigeria in good form," Juruni told Xinhua.
After the camp and the invitational tournament in Turkey, Uganda will head to Nigeria to play in the second leg of the World Cup qualifiers from June 29 to July 1.
In the first leg, Uganda finished in third place behind Nigeria and Mali, while Rwanda are fourth.
Uganda will be looking to maintain the top three places to advance to the final qualifying round. Enditem
