Nigeria’s senior national basketball teams, D’Tigresses and D’Tigers, LEADERSHIP Sports understands, would engage top-ranked teams in international friendlies, as part of the build-up to this year’s continental championships, according to the chairman of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Tijjani Umar.
Umar stated in Abuja, yesterday, that, having automatically qualified for both events and not due to partake in the qualifiers, both teams have received invites from Lithuania, Australia, France, Serbia and China.
“This is a huge move forward,” Umar said. “Everything is being paid for by the host – ticket, accommodation, local transport, all we have to do is present a team.
“Our team played in Rio and they did well, because after the tournament, we moved up nine spots on the FIBA ranking,” Umar explained.
As for the women’s team, who last won a continental title in 2005, Umar noted that, this year, the team, now on world level, would win the 2017 AfroBasket Women Championship “without any competition.”
Onukogu Kanayochuqu Jubal