Nigeria’s senior national men’s team, D’Tigers, say they are battle ready to face seven other countries for FIBA Olympics pre-qualifying tournament at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos.
D’Tigers will start the challenging and difficult trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics with a tough tie against African basketball powerhouse, Senegal in the opening game.
Ahead of the tournament which begins on Monday, 14th August, team captain, Chimezie Metu, says they are optimistic of a successful outing.
Metu who was part of the D’Tigers squad at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China and has never played at home, says he is relishing the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd while calling on the fans’ support.
“I have been looking forward to playing in Nigeria for some time now it will be fun to see how it goes,
“Senegal are a really good team but we have a great group of players and I think that we have done enough to try to compare ourselves to with what we have been given and the hand that we have been dealt. There is no excuse. We have a great deal of players, it is our duty to go out there and perform to the best of our ability,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nigeria will be going into the game knowing what that the sole ticket for the next round of qualifiers is the least the country expects from them following the heroics of their female counterparts, D’Tigress.
D’Tigress, earlier this month, claimed a fourth consecutive Afrobasket title at the 2023 edition in Kigali, Rwanda.
NBA G League, Greensboro Swarm Guard, Ikenna Ndugba, acknowledges the feat by D’Tigress but says it is a motivation for them to do better.
“Seeing that is amazing, on the flight in you hear that they won. I think that is definitely motivation for what we want to do. We want to make sure we represent Nigeria to the best of our ability,” she said.
One of the domestic players invited to Victor Eze feels no pressure going into the competition saying “No pressure, I’m pretty confident with the talent we have in our team”.
Eze who was part of Nigeria’s squad to the 2023 AfroCan tournament, a competition for basketball players who play for African clubs, is banking on the support of Nigerians to give their best.
He said “Honestly I feel like I’m better, I have gotten better since the AfroCan championship. What I’ll say is that I’m going to be whoever my team needs me to be in this qualifier. I have some friends in the Senegal team and I know how they play. I feel pretty confident going into the game”.
“I’m banking on every to just come out and show some love, we really need it. If no one comes out then there is no home advantage so we are not just playing for everyone. It will be great to have fans and show support,” we are.
Nigeria is drawn alongside Senegal, Mali, and Uganda in Group A while Congo DR, Cameroon, Guinea, and Tunisia make up Group B.
The winners of each FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament will line up at one of next July’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, with the winners of those clinching spots for Paris 2024.
