The Nigerian national basketball team, D’Tigers defeated Team USA 75-70 in their opening match at the ongoing international competition in China.
The D’Tigers departed the nation on Monday for China where they will play a series of games beginning this week and lasting until October 20.
Recall that the national team was unable to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics during the qualification rounds held in Lagos in August of last year.
Hence, their participation in the tournament in China is seen as one of the developmental programs run by the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, which is headed by Musa Ahmadu-Kida.
During the ongoing tournament in China, the D’Tigers stunned the Americans on Wednesday by defeating them for the second time in a row. Recall that the Nigerian team last defeated the USA team during a pre-2020 Olympics exhibition game played at Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas in 2021.
In reaction to the back-to-back victory over the United States, the vice president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Babs Ogunade said though the recent victory doesn’t mean much it is encouraging.
“It was a good victory because we are building a team and this is a step in the right direction,” he said.
“The win over the US doesn’t mean much, but it is good that we are encouraged and we know that we are making progress consciously as we need to do, but it is not a measure of anything that we beat the US. It’s a basketball game and we should enjoy the moment as we keep improving on the current set of players.
“The tour in China is an invitational tournament with a lot of teams and this victory is good for the player’s psyche, but we shouldn’t get carried away with it.”
