NBBF Releases Roster Ahead Of FIBA African World Cup Qualifiers
The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), have released a 12-man roster for the third window of the FIBA African World Cup qualifiers, scheduled to hold between June 7th – 5th July, 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda.
This follows a decision by the Federal Government earlier in the week to rescind its decision to suspend Nigeria’s basketball teams from all international competitions.
Nigeria sits at the top of Group A with five points from three games. During this window, 16 teams will compete for the second leg of matches earlier decided in November 2021 and March 2022. The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round where each team will play six games.
The two top teams in each group, along with the best third-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. D’Tigers will be led by Alan Major, who deputises for the team’s Head Coach Mike Brown, that just got named Coach of the Sacramento Kings, and Ogoh Odaudu will assist him.
The team is made up of Ikenna Ndugba (Greensboro Swarm, NBA G League), Uchenna Iroegbu, Michael Okiki (Gombe Bulls), Ben Emelogu (Rouen Metropolitan, France), Michael Oriakhi (Rivers Hoopers), Michael Gbinijie (Santa Cruz Warriors, NBA G League) and Ibe Agu (Customs, Abuja).
Other players on the list are Chimezie Metu (Sacramento Kings), Victor Koko (Rivers Hoopers), Christian Mekowolu (Casademont Zaragoza, Spain), and TK Edogi (Kolin, Czech Republic) and Emmanuel Omogbo (H.Izrael, Israel).
Currently ranked first in Africa, Nigeria will open its campaign against Cape Verde on Friday, 1 July before taking on Mali on Saturday. The last game will be against Uganda on Sunday, 3 July at the BK arena in the capital city of Kigali.
The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round where each team will play six games. The two top teams in each group, along with the best third-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
CN/NBBF.
