Nigeria’s boys’ and girls’ basketball teams have advanced to the African U18 basketball championship quarterfinals, which are now taking place in South Africa, setting a new milestone for the national sport.
In the Afrobasket U18 competition, which is Nigeria’s qualification tournament for the FIBA Junior World Cup in Switzerland, this is a momentous moment for the country. At that level, it is the first time that two Nigerian teams have advanced to the quarterfinals.
The girls picked the quarter-final slot as one of the third-best teams from their group. J’Tigress will face Egypt on Wednesday in the game billed for Pretoria. The Nigerian ladies lost their opening game to the Egyptians and now have a second chance. It is hoped that the players will be a lot better physically after going down with flu just before they faced Uganda in their last group game.
The J’Tigers opponents were not yet confirmed as of press time.
A former D’Tigers power forward and now a member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Ugo Udezue is happy with the strides the teams have made.
He said, “It has been a roller coaster. Our players have passed through adversity and still going. We are extremely proud of our teams and officials.”
The boys arrived in Pretoria very late after the South African Embassy in Abuja initially denied them visas. They compete without any financial support from the Ministry of Sports Development but rather private donations.
Two teams are expected to represent Africa in the FIBA U18 World Cup scheduled to take place in Switzerland.
