Ahmedu, President, Federation of
International Basketball Associations (FIBA), Africa Zone 3, on Thursday urged
the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to engage the France bound D’Tigress
Women National team in friendly games.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress is currently in camp
in preparation for the 2016 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT)
to come up from June 16 to June 19 in France.
Ahmedu told the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) that the friendly matches were essential to fine-tune the team and
generally assess the 27 players currently preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers
in France.
``We have a good squad of talented
players in camp; although I felt calling 27 players at this time is too
cumbersome for the Coach Scot Nnaji-led team.
``The federation could have limited
their call-up to the 12 players that won bronze medal at the 2015 Africa Games
in Brazzaville, Congo and then look out for four other quality players.
``This will give each player a fair
chance and give the coach much easier work to handle, especially when the team
is engaged in friendly matches,’’ Ahmedu said.
According to him, D’Tigress have a lot
of hard work to do in picking a slot out of the five teams considered for the
Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
``It is a very tough task for D’Tigress
considering the quality teams like Belarus and South Korea in their group;
however, determination and good team work could see them through.
``If we work hard enough to defeat any
of the teams in our group, we must win our quarterfinal match, which is even
tougher considering teams from other groups.
``Overall, we wish the entire team well
and hope they are able to emulate the team that qualified for the 2004 Olympics
in Athens, Greece,’’ Ahmedu said.
In the same vein, Chioma Udeaja, a power
forward player with D’Tigress, said that the team is confident of picking a
ticket for the Olympics.
She said that the team was determined to
work together and do the nation proud by leaving France
with one of the
available five slots for the Olympics.
``We are calling on lovers of the game
to support us with their prayers because we believe with their support we can
achieve together.
``There is no doubt that we have a huge
task before us but we are determined to achieve at the end, ’’Udeaja said.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress is ranked 42, the
lowest among the 12 teams that will compete for the five available tickets in
Olympic Qualifiers.
The other African contender, Cameroun,
is in Group B with Turkey and Argentina.
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