The factional President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Tijani Umar, has tasked the men’s national basketball team, D’Tigers, to take a cue from the women’s team as the team prepares for the Men’s Afrobasket championship.
AfroBasket 2017 will be the 29th edition of the men’s basketball continental championship of Africa. It will be jointly hosted by Tunisia and Senegal from September 8 to 16.
Nigeria won the last edition in 2015 and will be defending the title at this year’s edition.
“D’Tigers should emulate the feats performed by the D’Tigress and go all the way in Tunisia to win the championship, especially as they would be playing as defending champions,” Umar stressed.
He said determination and the will to excel should be the watchwords of the team if it must come back home with the title won in 2015.
“We all saw the determination of D’Tigress. Our men too should be able to show class in Tunisia and make the country proud.
“It is possible, though, Nigeria will be the team to beat following the feats of D’Tigress in Mali, but with determination, I know we can achieve the aim.”
He also urged the players not to allow any leadership wrangling derail their desire to retain the trophy and make the country proud again.
Nigeria is in Group A alongside DR Congo, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire.
Its first match will be against the Ivorians on September 8 while the second will be against the Malians on September 9. The last group match against the DR Congo is on September 10.
All group matches will take place at the Salle Omnisport de Rades, Rades.
In Group B are Angola, Central African Republic (CAR), Morocco and Uganda.
Co-hosts, Tunisia, Cameroon, Guinea and Rwanda are in Group C.
Group D has co-hosts, Senegal, South Africa, Mozambique and Egypt.
Group B and D will play their matches in Senegal. Group A and C will play in Tunisia.