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Elgedawy averaged 19.8 points and 9.3 rebounds across the five games Egypt played.
Raneem Elgedawy left the Lugogo Indoor Stadium as one of the crowd’s favourite player despite being on the opposing side as Egypt defeated the Uganda Gazelles 74-65 to book a place at this year’s Fiba AfroBasket.
She was simply the best player of the tournament and deservedly took home the MVP gong on top of making the best five of the qualifiers.
Her 19 points and 12 rebounds helped the Pharaohs overcome a resilient Gazelles side to take home the title they lost to Kenya in 2021.
She averaged 19.8 points and 9.3 rebounds across the five games Egypt played.
Togetherness and fighting as one are the attributes the Al Ahly centre believes set the side apart on the way to the top prize.
“I’m so proud of my team and how we fought,” Elgedawy said after Egypt were crowned.
“We played together until the end,” she added.
Egypt might be a better team in many aspects compared to Uganda but the two sides split the games played against each other. Uganda won the round robin clash but it was Egypt who the calmness under pressure to win the most important game of the tournament.
Uganda’s 86-85 win must have alerted the Egyptians to expect a tough test in the final. And they were ready.
The Gazelles gave away the three-point line and Egypt used it to knock down eight of 29 attempts.
Soraia Deghady came off the bench to score three of five from down town while Radwa Sherif was four of six from the same range.
Egypt simply had answers for most of Uganda’s questions and were deserved winners in the end.
Next to the Egypt bench were some Ugandan based Egyptians and Elgedawy says the team wanted to appreciate their support with victory.
“We didn’t want them to go home disappointed so we fought till the end.”
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