Tokyo Olympics: D’Tigress, D’Tigers open campaign against USA, Australia

D’Tigress of Nigeria will square up against USA on the 27th of July for its opening game at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, while D’Tigers will face Australia on the 29th according to the official fixture released by the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA).

The reigning African champions, D’Tigress, who missed out in the 2016 Rio games will be presented another chance to prove a point against the team they narrowly lost to at the 2020 Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade.

Friday, 30th of July will see the coach Otis Hughley tutored side file out against world number five-France before their last game against host-Japan (10th) on Monday, 2nd of August for the conclusion of group B games.

Meanwhile, the D’Tigers on the 29th of July will battle Australia in group B at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo.

Alongside Australia, the number one ranked team in Africa currently on a 9 match unbeaten run in all competitions will also play winners of the Olympics Qualifying Tournaments, Serbia and Belgrade, between the 29th of June and 4th of July.

Following the completion of the group games, the top two teams in each group and the two best losers will qualify for the quarter-finals.

They will be divided into Group D (best 4 teams) and Group E (remaining 4 teams). The quarter-final pairings for the men will be decided on 1st of August, while the women’s tournament draws will take place the following day.

Women’s games QF actions will be on Wednesday, August, 4th before the Semi-Finals and the Bronze Medal Game on Friday, 6th of August and Saturday, 7th of August respectively.

For the men, their quarter final games will come up on the 3rd of August before the semifinals two days later.

The men’s final will be played on the 7th, while women’s final will be on the 8th of August.

Chidi Nwoke/Sporting Life.