Uganda Gazelles finish 11th at FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup, best-ever result

FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup

Uganda’s Pool C results

Uganda 14 Madagascar 7

Tonga 6 Uganda 15

Uganda 10 Spain 19

Latvia 21 Uganda 8

Uganda Gazelles finished 11th at the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup in Wuhan, China, their best result in three appearances at the tournament.

They placed 19th in 2024 after losing all four games, then improved to 14th in 2025 after winning one of four matches.

This time, the Gazelles finished third in Pool C with two wins from four games and 47 points. Spain topped the pool with four wins, while Latvia finished second with three.

Uganda needed one win from their two Thursday games against Spain and Latvia to reach the quarter-finals after opening the tournament with two victories.

But the team lost 19-10 to Spain before falling 21-8 to Latvia, ending their campaign in third place in the pool and outside the last eight.

Sylvia Nantongo said the team had wanted to go further.

"We wanted to go further in the tournament, but we fell short despite giving our best in every game together," Lamunu said.

"We tried our best in both games, but Spain and Latvia punished our mistakes and made it difficult," she added.

Uganda started well on Tuesday, beating Madagascar 14-7 before seeing off Tonga 15-6.

The team was made up of Shillah Aber Lamunu, Sylvia Nakituuka, Mary Nambogo and Sylvia Nantongo.

Nantongo was Uganda's top player across the four games, leading the team in scoring and rebounding.

Against Tonga, she had five points and 12 rebounds, while Nakituuka and Nambogo scored four points each. Lamunu added two points and five rebounds.

Against Madagascar, Nantongo finished with four points and six rebounds, while Lamunu and Nambogo scored five points each.

She again led Uganda against Spain with six points and nine rebounds, then added four points and six rebounds against Latvia.

Nakituuka also scored four points against Latvia, while Nambogo and Lamunu did not score.

Uganda qualified for this year's World Cup after a strong run in the Youth Nations League, winning four of the six stops in the Mombasa, Kenya conference.

The tournament started on Tuesday to Saturday and featured 20 women's national teams, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the quarter-finals.

The women's competition includes several former champions. The Netherlands won the title in 2023 and 2025, while the United States were champions in 2024. France won in 2022, Japan won in 2019, and Russia took the inaugural title in 2018.

The 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.