The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare and the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Igoche Mark have both congratulated the Nigerian national women basketball team, D’Tigress for picking a ticket to the FIBA Women World Cup.
The ladies, who are three times Afrobasketball champions wasted no time in the game as they dominated in all the quarters, beating their Malian opponents 73-69 on Sunday to qualify as Africa’s sole representatives.
However, the D’Tigress lost their opening game to China but bounced back to beat highly-rated, world number five, France 67-65, before they overpowered their fellow African opponents
“I am with the queens of the court for doing the nation proud and showing dogged determination in all their games,” Dare said.
Meanwhile, saluting the African Champions, the NBBF President, Mark said the victory of the team means that ladies are destined to rule the world.
“Champions of Africa, you have done it again, your victory today (Sunday) against Mali was astounding.
“Your performance in this qualifiers is a testament to the fact that you’re destined to rule the world. Thank you ladies for putting the negative past behind you and continuing to excel as Champs!
“Let me assure you, under my leadership, Basketball will become the number one sport in Nigeria, “Mark stated.
Mark assured the team that they will surely participate at the FIBA World Cup in Australia later in the year, advising them to disregard contrary reports about the nation’s withdrawal from the tournament.
The FIBA Women Basketball World Cup will take place in Sydney, Australia in September.
