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Zamalek from Egypt are winners of the first Basketball Africa League
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Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 30.05.21. | 23:34
Team from the land of pharaohs defeated Tunisian US Monastir to win the inaugural African basketball tournament powered by NBA
Broadcasted to in 215 countries and territories in 15 languages from Kigali Arena in Rwanda, Zamalek defeated US Monastir 76-63 to win the inaugural Basketball Africa League Championship.
Amadou Gallo Fall, BAL president, presented Zamalek with the BAL Championship Trophy, which was designed to resemble the baobab tree. Symbolism lies with the baobab as it is native to the African continent and is known as the “tree of life”.
???? @ZSCOfficial is the 2021 @theBAL CHAMPION! #theBAL pic.twitter.com/tZKk8YlRdg
— NBA (@NBA) May 30, 2021
The BAL announced the first recipients of the league’s end-of-season awards after the game. With the awards, BAL wanted to pay homage to African NBA pioneers Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria), Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Manute Bol (South Sudan).
The MVP award was named after Olajuwon and it was given to Zamalek's Walter Hodge after leading his team to an undefeated 6-0 record with per game averages of 15.5 points, 5.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
Dikembe Mutombo BAL Defensive Player of the Year Award went to Hodge's teammate Anas Osama Mahmoud after recording per game averages of 6.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.
Makrem Ben Romdhane of US Monastir received the Manute Bol BAL Sportsmanship Award for exemplifying the ideals of sportsmanship and camaraderie.
Did you miss the BAL 2021 Final? Here are some of the best moments of the championship game between @ZSCOfficial and @usmonastir_org #theBAL pic.twitter.com/phkGVGfPUj
— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) May 30, 2021
Award winners were selected by a panel of sportswriters, broadcasters and NBA team scouts in attendance.
Tomorrow, additional awards will be announced on the BAL’s social media channels, including the BAL All-First Team, 2021 BAL Scoring Champion and Ubuntu Award, which is awarded to an individual or organization that has made an impact on the local community during the first BAL season.
Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia national leagues champions earned their participation in the inaugural BAL season.
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— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) May 30, 2021
The rest of the participating team, six of them, came from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda. They secured their attendance through BAL qualifying tournaments which were conducted in late 2019 by FIBA Regional Office Africa across the continent
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