The vice President of Nigeria’s Basketball Federation,Mr Babs Ogunade said preparations have commence to ensure that both the men and women National basketball teams perform well at the Olympics games in Tokyo.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress are ranked No.1 in Africa and 14th in the World, but they have been drawn in the Group of death where they be facing USA, France and host Japan at the event.
All three opponents are ranked higher than D’Tigress with USA maintaining their No.1 spot,while France are No.5 and hosts Japan occupy the 10th spot in the world ranking.
Ogunade said it’s a tough draw, but the Federation is happy that Nigeria is competing for honor with the best in the world.
The NBBF Chief added that the Federation is working round the clock to ensure D’tigress and their male counterparts D’Tigers do the nation proud.
He said, “At every time our national teams step on the court, Nigerian should expect them to give their very best, a podium appearance won’t be a bad thing, in fact it will be fantastic.”
“It’s a tough draw as expected at the Olympics, since the Olympics is not an inter-house sport, the very best come out to play at the Olympics, so were happy to be among the best, we’re also happy to be representing Nigeria and Africa.
“We are happy to have crossed that qualification hurdle and were now planning for the Olympics proper,” he told BCOS TV.
COMMENTS