The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, on Monday heaped praises on Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, for their commendable showing in the last round of the FIBA 2023 World Cup Qualifiers for Africa that ended in Luanda, Angola on Sunday.
D’Tigers won two of their three games, narrowly missing out of a place at the FIBA 2023 World Cup after finishing in fourth place in their group where the top three teams booked automatic spots.
Nigeria defeated Cote’d Ivoire 72-63 in the first game, ending the Ivoriens’ unbeaten run in the qualifiers before beating Guinea 62-59 in the second game. However, before their third and final game against Angola on Sunday, news was already out that the final World Cup ticket had gone to Cape Verde but the Nigerians still put up a credible showing despite losing 65-59 to the hosts.
Dare said the efforts of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, the coaches and players were well appreciated. “As painful as it is, to narrowly miss out on the World Cup, we must appreciate the NBBF, the coaches, officials and players for their gallant performance.
They played with honour and pride, and gave this campaign their 100%,” Dare said. “It was an opportunity given to the home based players and coaches to show their potentials and they did not disappoint. I believe this will open them up to many more opportunities and exposure.”
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Babs Ogunade, attributed the ouster to the administrative problems in the basketball family over the years.
He said: “Our failure to qualify was because of all the distractions and court cases affecting preparations and other logistics. It is unfortunate but we saw it coming because we were depending on the results of other people and not just our own.”