The men's basketball team of Senegal are taking part on Friday in the tournament of Strasbourg, eastern France, the Senegalese Basketball Federation told media in Dakar.

"The Lions" take on France on Friday, then China on Saturday, before finally playing Lithuania on Sunday.

All theses countries have qualified for the World basketball championship slated from 19 August to 3 September in Japan. In this competition, China, Senegal, United States, Puerto Rico, Italy and Slovenia are in the same group.

In addition to Senegal, African champion Angola and Nigeria are the other African representatives to the world championship

Strasbourg tournament is part of preparation for the worlds and the Senegalese team have been in France for nearly a week on.

Later on, they will fly to Lithuania to take part in a tourney, which will see the participation of Israel, Russia and Lithuania, from 31 July to 2 August before heading for Abidjan where they are expected to play in a tournament organised by the Cote d'Ivoire basketball federation from August 5-7.

Source: Xinhua