KAMPALA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Uganda promised a good show when the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers start next month.

The Silverbacks will face a tough test in the qualifiers for Africa which start February 23-25.

Ambrose Tashobya, President of the Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA), told Xinhua on Tuesday that after some good exposure of the players last year both at national and club level, they are going to be a team to reckon with when the qualifiers take place in Mali.

Uganda are in Group B with Nigeria, Rwanda and hosts Mali.

"This is a very tough group because Nigeria have won the African crown before and Mali together with Rwanda are also strong sides. But we shall start early to prepare and also make sure all our foreign based players join the team in time," added Tashobya.

Mande Juruni, Uganda's assistant coach. said, "We played against Angola, one of Africa's best teams last year and gave a good account. Now we want to go and qualify."

Top three teams of each of the four groups advance next round to play home-and-away games for the five tickets to the World Cup.

This is the first time for Africa to have five teams in the finals. The 2019 World Cup will be hosted by China from Aug. 31 to Sep.15.