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Moroccan Royal Basketball Federation (FRMBB) has announced that the national basketball team will not participate in the upcoming Arab Nations Basketball Championship due to a high COVID-19 infection rate among the Moroccan delegation.
The decision means the Moroccan team will not feature in the anticipated regional tournament scheduled to take place between February 6-18 in the United Arab Emirates.
Following COVID tests carried out on the Moroccan delegation before they could travel to the UAE, seven members tested positive, FRMBB announced in a press release.
Further indicating that four other members are believed to have contracted the virus while only eight individuals tested negative, the press release concluded that Atlas Lions cannot take part in the 24th men’s edition of the Arab Nations Basketball Championship.
The Arab Nations Basketball Championship is a biennial regional basketball tournament that brings together teams from the Arab world.
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Since the competition’s establishment in 1974, Egypt has been by far the tournament’s most successful team with 12 titles; following Egypt is Tunisia with four titles.
Meanwhile, Morocco’s Atlas Lions lag far behind with no trophy despite a remarkable display in many editions of the regional tournament. Throughout its numerous participation in the tournament over the years, the Moroccan team has secured five medals in total — three bronze and two silver medals.
But Morocco’s basketball team has had success in other continental competitions, such as the FIBA Africa Championship, also known as AfroBasket.
In the 1965 AfroBasket held in Tunisia, Morocco’s Atlas Lions defeated the host country in an intense final, winning their first and only African champions title out of 18 participations in Africa’s most significant basketball competition.
