By Amaechi Agbo
Defending Champions Nigeria’s D’Tigress will on Wednesday know their Quarter finals opponent when Cameroon takes on Angola in the playoffs round.
The Nigerian girls booked their Quarter final spot after securing their second straight win at the tournament with a win over Mozambique on Monday, a result that secured them an automatic place in the last eight after topping their group.
The African champions who believe they are still not near their best form at the tournament, returned to training on Tuesday under the watchful eyes of Coach Rene Wakama, focusing on their shooting and defence tactics.
Ahead of the Quarter final on Thursday, against either Angola or Cameroon, the girls say have been further boosted with the news of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s fatherly gestures to the victorious Super falcons, where they were given cash, houses and National Honors.
Captain of the team Amy Okonkwo said the reception the women’s football team received from the country and Government is a big motivation for them to also return home as Africa’s champions.
“ We were in the locker room after our game against Mozambique and the news filtered in on what Mr President just announced for our sisters, the Super falcons and for us it shows how much Sports is now being taken seriously in the country from the top “.
“ I want to thank the President for this show of love and commitment to the country’s sports and we can also see that leadership of sports in the country, the National sports commission, NSC, is now prioritising the welfare of Nigerian athletes”.
On their next game against either Cameroon or Angola, Okonkwo said any of the teams will not be a push over and they are focus on raising their game as the competition enters the business end.
“ Afrobasket is getting tougher and the quality of the competition is also getting better each year, and we must be up for it because every team now wants to beat Nigeria. We are fully aware of this and that is why we are not losing sight of the mission and the challenges that we will face to get there”.
Host country Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Uganda and Defending champions Nigeria are the four top teams with automatic tickets in the Quarter finals of this year’s Afrobasket.
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