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As the country prepares ahead of the forthcoming Rwanda 2023 Afrobasket Championship, watchers of event in the basketball scene are scared that foreign-based female players may shun the national team camp.
Nigeria, Africa’s second most successful women basketball nation after Senegal, is expected to compete in the Afrobasket Championship billed to hold in Kigali from July 28 to August 6, 2023.
Some of the players vowed not to play for the country again following the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw D’Tigress from last year women’s FIBA Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, in the heat of the leadership crisis that dogged the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).
Nigeria’s slot for the World Cup was given to Mali by world basketball ruling body, FIBA. Yesterday, NBBF Vice President, Babs Ogunade, told The Guardian that D’Tigress camp would be open for every eligible women basketball player ready to compete for a place in the team.
He said that preparations were in top gears for D’Tigress to successfully defend their title in Kigali, adding that the NBBF will approach the players listed for the competition to get them in the team.
D’Tigress were drawn against Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Group D of the 2023 women’s Afrobasket Championship in the draw held in Maputo, Mozambique, recently.
D’Tigress, the defending champions of the
In Group A, Rwanda and Angola will face the winner of the Zone Three qualifying competition, while Cameroun and Mozambique are drawn in Group B alongside a yet-to-be-named wild card team. Senegal, Mali and Uganda make up Group C.
D’Tigress have won the last three editions of the Women’s Afrobasket championship and remain unbeaten in every African competition since 2017.
The Nigerian senior women’s national basketball team won the 2017 trophy in Bamako and claimed their second title in Dakar, Senegal, in 2019, before completing the hattrick in Cameroun in 2021.
