Izuchukwu OkosiReprieve has come the way of the Nigeria men’s basketball national team, D’Tigers, as they have boarded a flight to Tunis, capital of Tunisia on Thursday night for the first window of 2025 FIBA Afrobasket qualifiers that began Friday, February 23, Prime Business Africa reports.
The team were at the verge of missing out of the qualifying games due to lack of funds but the Musa Kida – led board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has come to the rescue of the team.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa gathered that the Basketball Federation was advised to fund the trip to Tunisia and will be reimbursed by the sports ministry in three weeks time when funds for the team’s outing as well as other sporting events by the country’s representatives will be made available.
Meanwhile, FIBA Africa which is the coordinating body of FIBA on the continent of Africa, have magnanimously moved the game between Tunisia and Nigeria from the 2 pm tip-off local time to 8 pm on Friday evening.
Nigeria’s basketball national teams have suffered the ignominy of missing out of major tournaments in recent years.
The D’Tigress failed to participate at the 2023 FIBA World Cup because of a face-off between the team players and then sports minister, Sunday Dare.
The team’s ban by the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) was later reversed but their place at the tournament was lost.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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