By Amaechi Agbo
The Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF has expressed gratitude to President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, Honorable Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare and millions of Nigerian basketball lovers all over the world for their immense support to the national female basketball team, the D’Tigress who secured their 2020 Olympic ticket over the weekend.
Following the senior women’s national team’s return to the Olympics after 16 years of absence, the board said without the open support of the Federal Government, prosecuting the qualifiers would have been difficult.
The NBBF President, Engr Musa Kida said the ability of the federation to produce two teams (men and women) for the same Olympics has never happened before in the history of basketball in Nigeria which has made Saturday’s feat even sweeter.
“We thank his Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari for his fatherly role and support all through this journey to book an Olympic Games ticket. The Honourable Minister also played a major role through his timely interventions, encouragement and the keen interest he developed towards basketball in Nigeria since assuming office.”
Kida also praised the fans for staying solidly behind D’Tigers and D’Tigress all through the qualifiers. The NBBF President also thanked them for the unflinching support of the Federation since he was sworn-in in 2017.
“This long journey was made easier by the fans who showed resilience and were relentless in their support for the two national teams. I am overwhelmed by the number of calls and text messages I have received since the teams qualified.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Sunday Dare communicated with the team on Saturday via telephone through the NBBF President immediately after their 2020 Olympic Games’ ticket was confirmed. He congratulated them for doing Nigerians proud.
He promised that adequate arrangements will be put in place to prepare the team for the 2020 Olympics as they continue their journey in making history.
The record breaking feat saw the men and women national teams qualifying for the Olympics at the same time for the first time.
Meanwhile, assistant coach of Nigeria’s senior women basketball national team — D’Tigress, Peter Ahmedu, has hailed the team for giving a good account of itself after the team achieved its target of picking the ticket to the women basketball event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
Ahmedu speaking with newsmen after the ladies lost narrowly to world heavyweight basketball nation, USA 71-76, commended the efforts of the players in the last game played against USA where the team lost by just 5points and stressed that the team will get better when next they regroup.
He noted that lapses have been identified and will be dealt with as soon as preparation for the Olympic Games proper gets underway.
“The game between Nigeria and USA was a very competitive game. It was a very tensed game. I give kudos to D’Tigress and if we are in top gear in our full preparation towards the Olympics, the lapses which we have seen so far, the intensity, the team chemistry must come up together and that will take us to the next level.
“So, we thank D’Tigress for a good outing here qualifying for the Tokyo 2020, we hope to do better when the training camp starts.”
