Sports

Cameroon struggles in China’s International Solidarity Cup.

by Dewah Fabrice Teh
01 Aug 2026 22:44
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The senior men’s national basketball team has concluded its campaign in the 2026 International Solidarity Cup in China with two defeats in three matches.
The Basketball Lions returned the report card after losing twice to host country China and overpowering Montenegro in their other match.

The invitational tournament was organized in Haikou in southern China. It concluded on Monday.

China defeated Cameroon 90-82points in the last game despite the highly-acclaimed performances that several of the Basketball Lions’ players registered in the match, especially NBA duo John Tonje and Ulrich Chomche.

Tonje who made his debut for the Basketball Lions last Friday, contributed a game-high 28points in the match. He equally chipped in three rebounds and three assists.

Chomche put up what was hailed as an excellent defensive work while Russel Tchewa came off the bench to contribute 17points, four rebounds and a block as Cameroon won the second and fourth quarters of Monday’s game.

But the performance was not good enough to stop the Chinese. The host went all-out in the game to tame the Basketball Lions, who like the outfit, was using the competition to ready for the forthcoming round of matches in the qualifiers to next year’s Basketball World Cup.

Last season’s Chinese Basketball Association’s most valuable player, He Xining powered in 25points in the match while his fellow star teammate, Zhao Jiayi contributed 21points.

Before locking horns with China on Monday, the Basketball Lions had defeated Montenegro 91-72points on Saturday in their second match. France-born power forward, Elwin Ndjock, and point guard, Samir Gbetkom, emerged as the biggest performers after contributing 16 and 14points respectively in the game.

The victory helped the Basketball Lions to recover from the 113-79points defeat that they were handed by China in their first match last Friday.

The Basketball Lions were led in the tournament by home-based trainer, Auguste Siedjou. Siedjou made his debut as senior coach for Cameroon earlier this month while serving as an assistant to Basketball Lions lead trainer Alfred Aboya.

The Basketball Lions will return to action next month to begin competing in the second and final round of the African zonal qualifiers to the 2027 Basketball World Cup set for Qatar.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3862 of Wednesday July 29, 2026