Ivory Coast's Abidjan Basket Club beat Senegal in opening match

Season 3 of the Basketball Africa League is under way. 

The hostilities were launched Saturday by the Sahara Conference taking place in Senegal's capital, Dakar. 

Already a big sensation with the defeat 70-76 of the Senegalese As Douanes in front of the Ivorians of Abidjan Basket Club. For the Fighters it is the ideal beginning in the long march towards the final tournament of Kigali in Rwanda.

"Very happy, very happy, twice happy especially when you beat the home team in the opening game. It is the grail. But the most important thing for us is not to stay on this victory. The most important thing is to win game after game" affirmed Stephane Konate, ABC Captain.

Winning game after game but especially hoping to fall on a team as generous as AS Douanes. Bad in the shots, absent in defence and very feverish in the rebounds, the Gabelous could not hope for better.

"We can only blame ourselves. Offensively, we missed too many easy baskets. And then, we were dominated at times on the inside game. We didn't rebound as we should have. We took 22 points on counter-attacks, we will have to change our attitude for the games to come", admitted Mamadou Gueye, AS Douanes's coach.

The Senegalese have no more room for error. The Douanes players must react on Wednesday against Rwanda Energy Group. As a reminder, 6 teams make up this Sahara Conference including the title holder US Monastir of Tunisia.

Wahany Johnson Sambou , correspondent in Senegal for Africanews, added:

"It is thus on this victory of ABC Fighters of Abidjan that starts this third season of the Basketball Africa League. The Ivorians who beat the Senegalese team of AS Douanes 76-70. A team of AS Douanes which lost due to clumsiness as opposed to the Ivorian team which could count in particular on a certain Harouna, author of 25 points including 5 out of 10 in the shots.