By Kehinde Okeowo
Second round of games in Group B of the ongoing Tokyo Olympics between Nigeria and German was played in the early hours of Wednesday with the Germans narrowly beating the unlucky D’Tigers.
The keenly contested encounter saw the first quarter ending 24-21points in favour of the 17th ranked European team.
The Africans roared back in the second quarter winning the Germans and ending the round 29-26 points with the first half ending on equal terms of 50 points each.
There was nothing to separate the two sides, as the game continued in a similar fashion in the third quarter with neither of the teams able to out do the other. The round ended with both teams gathering 24 points each.
D’Tigers who showed a lot of spirit against their more illustrious opponent, however, lost final quarter of the game 18-25 points ending the game 92-99 points in favour of Germany.
This year’s edition group stage format is different from the past, as the 12 qualifiers were divided into three groups of four rather then the traditional two groups of six.
Each team will play three games in their group and the first and second placed teams in each group will qualify automatically , while the two best third placed teams overall will join the rest in the knockout rounds.
A draw is expected to be made afterwards to determine who plays who in the knock out rounds. This means all hopes are not lost for the D’Tigers.
But they must beat their next opponent, the Italians, in their third and final game of the group to stand a chance of progressing to the next stage of the competition.
