Rwanda had a challenging end to their FIBA Women’s World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournament Group D journey. Despite the loss to Great Britain, Coach Dr. Cheikh Sarr’s comments suggest that the tactical approach was due to the strain of multiple games. Additionally, their sense of security from thinking they had already secured a semifinal spot may have influenced their approach to the game.
Following back-to-back wins against Lebanon and Argentina, the Rwandan women’s basketball team lost 61-75 to Great Britain, finishing Group D in second place and setting up a semifinal matchup against another African team, Senegal.
In Rwanda’s first two games, Dr. Cheikh Sarr, the coach, consistently credited the success to his players and highlighted their extra efforts to represent Rwanda with pride.
In his final group match against yet another team from a different continent, Dr. Sarr experienced his first loss of the campaign to a highly energetic and skilled shooting squad, Great Britain, and put the blame on himself.
The Europeans controlled the flow of the game after Rwanda’s early 10-2 lead in the first quarter, moving the ball freely, shooting from various positions, and driving into the paint at will. Great Britain shot 42% overall, including 32% from the three-point line, while Sarr’s team struggled, shooting 32% overall and 17.9% from behind the arc.
In the post-game press conference, Dr. Cheikh Sarr admitted that he deviated from his usual tactical approach by starting with a zone defense rather than a full-court press. He explained that, since his team had already won the first two games and essentially secured a place in the semifinals, he decided to make this change.
He said, “When we started the game, we didn’t go full-court press like we used to. We were concerned about getting exhausted. We did it for two games, and we have a semifinal to prepare. That was my mindset, but we react when we are down 29; it was very scary, so we had to change our minds and play full-court press to stop them. Maybe that’s my fault because I know I can control the team. I can control Great Britain by doing zone and then coming back on man-to-man. But that was different.”
He added, “They (Great Britain) were making all their shots while our shots weren’t falling. We know we can make those shots when we are open; we proved that in the first five minutes, but then everything stopped. We took a lot of shots, but none of them went in. That’s what happened. We needed to react quickly and manage to cut the lead to 14 points by the end of the game.”
Rwanda will take the floor once again on Saturday, August 24, at Kigali’s BK Arena for a semifinal clash against Senegal, Dr. Sarr’s home country.
The Senegalese coach has expressed a preference for facing Senegal over Hungary, although he acknowledges that all the teams are strong.
On the other side, Hungary will face Great Britain in the first semifinal game. The winners of these semifinals will meet in the championship game on Sunday, competing for a spot in the FIBA Women’s World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament.
