Julius Okorie
After successfully making history as the first African team to hit the quarterfinals of the Basketball event at the Olympics, Nigeria’s D’Tigress will take on USA on Wednesday for a place in the semifinals. D’Tigress disarmed Canada 79-70 on Sunday to qualify for quarterfinals.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelOn their part United States survived a nail biting encounter against Germany to book a playing edging Germany 87-68. One of the breath taking encounters was that between Australia who incidentally lost their opening group match to Nigeria and hosts France.
The Australians perhaps not ready for the story that touch fought really hard to stop vociferous France and their supporters with a 79-72 victory. The hosts however still managed to qualify despite the loss to Australia
READ ALSOSuper Active D’Tigress Into Q/Finals In Paris, Beat Canada 79-70
All the quarterfinal clashes will be settled on Wednesday with Serbia facing Australia at about 10am, Spain and Belgium will square up for size at about 1.30pm, Germany and Australia take the centre stage at 5pm while Nigeria and United States round off proceedings for the day at 8.30pm.
Nigeria will proudly make their first-ever appearance in the Quarter-Finals, and they will also be the first African team to compete at this stage in the Olympic Basketball Tournaments, for both men and women. As ever, playmaker Ezinne Kalu will be out to inspire victory from the backcourt.
USA will continue their quest to defend their throne. They are chasing a 10th Olympic title and remain unbeaten on French soil, helped by the eye-catching form of A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.
Nigerians Express Fear,Optimism Ahead Wednesday Clash With USA
Ahead of the clash against USA,some Nigerians have taken to the social media to express fears and hope alike of advancing to the semifinals.
Red Rose🌹 Chelsea First Lady@Roseangel009 said “Hmmm that’s going to be tough. USA and Basketball 🏀 are like 5&6. D’Tigress should do extra preparation”
For Akjay@akjay4, you cannot rule out the possibility of miracles happening as he submitted “Miracles still happen yeah, but na person wey sabi throw 3 points shot well go win. The girls already surpassed our expectations. Congratulations to them” while
Salami olawoyin@SalamiAlha9050 admitted it will be tough while hoping that odds favour D’Tigress.”It’s going to be tough, but for the first time surprise victory will favor Nigeria against US”
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
