South Africa has been awarded the 2017 IWBF World Championships African Qualification Tournament ©IWBF

The African branch of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) has named South Africa as hosts of the 2017 World Championships African Qualification Tournament.

The qualification tournament will take place between November 17 and 26 in Durban.

Eight men’s teams will battle for one qualifying spot in the men’s section at next year's World Championships in Hamburg.

A minimum of four women’s teams are expected to compete for one qualifying spot.

“We are very pleased to award the 2017 African Qualification Tournament for the World Championships to Wheelchair Basketball South Africa," said the President of IWBF Africa, Hamid El Aouni.

“The African Zone is developing and growing stronger every year and we are hopeful that the qualifiers will see the same level of competition we did in 2015 for the qualifiers for Rio 2016.”

The qualification tournament will take place between November 17 and 26 in Durban ©Getty Images
The qualification tournament will take place between November 17 and 26 in Durban ©Getty Images

A total of 16 men’s and 12 women’s teams will compete at the World Championships, which will take place at the Wilhelmsburger Inselparkarena in the German city.

Australia have won the last two men’s tournaments, beating the United States 63-57 in the 2014 final in Incheon, South Korea.

Canada beat Germany 54-50 in the women’s event, which took place in Toronto.

It comes after Durban was relieved of its hosting duties of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in March, due to a number of financial assurances from the Government were not reached.