Luanda – The former Angolan basketball player Ângelo Victoriano on Wednesday in the city of Manila, Philippines, was inducted into the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
With this distinction, the former captain of the Angolan national team joins another former Angolan basketball player, Jean Jacques da Conceição, a former power forward of 1º de Agosto who was the first Angolan and African player also appointed in 2013.
Ângelo Victoriano was distinguished in June this year by FIBA due to his deeds with the National Team, in Africa, Europe, Asia and America.
The 55 year-old former power forward who played for 1º de Agosto club, is included in a list made up of 10 athletes and 2 coaches who will be honoured in public through the “FIBA Hall of Fame 2023” during a ceremony on the sidelines of the congress of the international federation.
The FIBA event was created in 1991 and it aims to honour basketball players, coaches, referees and managers for their maximum contribution and deeds in favor of this sporting modality.
Ângelo Vitoriano started his sports career in 1982, aged 14, in the Province of Luanda and at 16 he played for Petro de Luanda until he was called up to the national junior team for the African Under-16 Basketball Championship, held in Mozambique.
Then when he moved to 1º de Agosto, which is the main basketball club from the Angolan Armed Forces, the player won three African Champion Clubs' Cup trophies.
With the Senior National Team, he won eight African titles in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005. He is the only Angolan and African player to achieve this feat.
The closest to the number are Jean-Jacques da Conceição and Carlos Almeida, two legends of Angolan and world basketball, who achieved such a feat.
In his long sports career, Ângelo Victoriano represented Angola in four World Cups, Spain (1992), Argentina (1990), Toronto (1994) and Indianapolis (2002).
The former captain of the African champions for eleven times also competed at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
The extensive sports record of the former captain of the National Team also passes through Europe, more specifically Portugal, where he was champion for the association of Queluz Basketball Club.
Twenty-three years after playing in the 2002 World Cup, in Indianapolis, United States of America, Ângelo Monteiro dos Santos Victoriano returns to the basketball World Cup of 2023, as an observer.
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