Stephen Dunmoye
Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, on Tuesday resumed camp in Abuja in preparation for the final window of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African qualifiers later this month in Alexandria, Egypt and Luanda, Angola as Nineteen home-based players invited for the game.
The Nigeria Basketball Federation, on their official Twitter handle, called up 21 players to camp in preparation for the daunting task in Angola.
In a video posted on social media, Head Coach Ogoh Odaudu, along with his assistants Baba Jubril and Abdul Mohammed were seen dishing out instructions to the players.
Last week, world governing body, FIBA, confirmed the schedule for the final and decisive Window 6 of the qualifiers.
The 18 games, which will determine the four teams to join Ivory Coast as representatives of Africa at the World Cup in Indonesia, Japan and Philippines, will be played from February 24 to 26 in Alexandria and Luanda.
Out of the 16 countries that started the African qualifiers in November 2021, 12 remain in the competition, although some have bigger chances than others to secure the rights to represent Africa at the 2023 World Cup.
Each team will play their last three games in as many days, making this qualifying window a do-or-die situation for teams like Nigeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal and South Sudan.
The teams that finish first and second in Groups E and F, plus the best third-place team secure the five spots on offer for African countries for the World Cup.
For D’Tigers, they face a near-impossible task of qualifying for the World Cup following a poor outing in Window 5 of the qualifiers.
D’Tigers recorded one win in three games, losing 78-66 to hosts Ivory Coast at the 3,500-capacity Palais des Sports Treichville in Abidjan, putting their qualification hopes for next year’s World Cup in a tight corner.
