’Tigers players may not be on the same page with the coach of the team, Sani Ahmed, in his decision to include foreign-based players in the national men’s basketball team for assignments in the later part of this year. The decision may see the exclusion of some players who helped qualify the team for the tournaments.
But the coach has his reasons. According to him, the two competitions that D’Tigers will be taking part in later in the year would be tougher than the qualifiers which gave them the tickets.
Nigeria, few days back, sealed qualification to the 2015 FIBA Africa Basketball championship in Tunisia and the All African Games (AAG) in Congo with a 63-50 victory over Burkina Faso in the second Leg of the qualifiers at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
D’Tigers had earlier won the first leg by 23 points in Ouagadougou before sealing the ticket in the return leg in Lagos.
Reflecting on the two-legged ties and other countries that qualified for the competitions, Ahmed said the task at hand would be tough.
He said: “The two competitions we are going to take part in are more difficult than the qualifiers and we need to go there with our very best. In doing that, we need to bring in some of the players we have in the foreign leagues to make the team stronger.
“With due respect to the players that gave us the tickets, we still need to beef up the team with some of our best hands in the foreign leagues.
“I thank the players for making us proud and for sealing the tickets, but it is not over yet as the real tasks would be the main competitions in Tunisia and Congo.
Nigeria now joins 13 other qualified countries – Angola, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, Morocco, Uganda, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Gabon, Congo and host Tunisia – for her 17th appearance at FIBA Africa Championship. It is billed for the cities of Nabuel and Hammamet, Tunisia, from the August 20 to 30, while the 11th AAG will hold in Congo Brazzaville between September 4 and 19.
Meanwhile, President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Tijani Umar, has reiterated the federation’s commitment to continue to support domestic club-sides with great potentials to blossom into full-fledged professional teams.
He single-handedly picked T-joba basketball club, who narrowly missed promotion to the elite division last season as one of the teams of the future.
Though, T-joba failed to win promotion to the Nigerian Professional Basketball League, Umar still applauded its performance at the tourney.
He, however, expressed thanks to the governor and the good people of Akwa Ibom State for their support for T-joba basketball club.
He urged the club to remain steadfast in the coming season of the Nigerian basketball League by pushing for promotion to the premiership.