Mfoula gears-up for Women's Olympic tourney

Cameroon may be the second lowest ranked team in next summer’s Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT), but Marie-Ange Mfoula insists the team's determination to compete matters most.

The Central Africans who sit 39th in the FIBA Women’s Ranking - three places above Nigeria, the other Africa WOQT contender - are among twelve teams competing for the remaining five spots for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The WOQT will run from 13-19 June.

The focus, the French-Cameroonian says, is to leave behind the disappointment of the AfroBasket Women 2015, and get ready to compete regardless the opponent.

"We are all preparing for the WOQT,” Mfoula said to FIBA.com.

“I really hope we could punch one of the five spots for Rio de Janeiro Olympics.”

Mfoula and her teammates could have avoided the WOQT and secured direct qualification for the Rio Games, however, an 81-66 defeat to Senegal in the AfroBasket Women 2015 final in October turned their Olympic aspirations upside down.

But they remain positive and look forward to the challenge. Also, to make sure she has moved on from the African Championship upset, Mfoula published this Facebook post with Senegal’s Fatou Dieng who made all her three points against Cameroon to go with 12 points and help Senegal win their second title since 2009.