National women's basketball team of the Indian Ocean island country would miss the African Cup of Nation 2007 scheduled to take place from September 21 to 30 in Senegal.
Madagascar would not compete the 22nd African championship of women's basketball in the capital city of Dakar due to financial difficulty, Tribune, a local French-language daily quoted the Minister of Sports Philemon Rabarison as announcing.
The announcement was a great shock for the national basketball players who won the gold medal last month at the 7th Indian Ocean Island Games.
Rabarison said that his ministry was now undergoing a financial difficulty after the IOIG games that took place here from August 9 to 19, according to Tribune published here on Tuesday.
The godfather of the discipline, Marius Ratolojanahary, also Minister of Agriculture, Breeding and Fishing that in charge of basketball under government arrangement, had tried his best to find a way out for the embarrassment but had only received one third of the funds needed.
The deadline for confirmation of participation of the African cup expired last Saturday.
It was learned that Madagascar should pay a fine of 300,000 U.S. dollars for non-participation of the African championship, which could have been an occasion to evaluate the performance of the national players at continental level.
Source: Xinhua
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