Nigerian national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, will officially resume camping for the 2020 FIBA Olympics Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia on Saturday, February 1, 2020.
Coach Otis Hugely’s girls will camp for five days in the Serbian capital before starting their Olympics qualification campaign against host, Serbia, World Champions, USA, and fellow African side, Mozambique, with two Olympics tickets to compete for.
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Louisville University’s Elizabeth Balogun might be handed her first national team debut, alongside Musa Murjanantu, who made the headlines last year for emerging the 2019 Zenith Bank Women Basketball League’s Most Valuable Player. Sarah Ogoke, who was formerly not part of the squad, has since been recalled to the national team fold to replace Upe Atosu.
Team captain, Adaora Elonu, is expected to lead the Nigerian women to a successful Olympics Qualifying Tournament outing after the team missed out on the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Nigerians will also be banking on star players like 2019 FIBA Women Afrobasket MVP, Ezinne Kalu, Evelyn Akhator, Aisha Balarabe who recently moved to Spain, among others.
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The technical crew of the West African side has also been boosted with the addition of Samson Sotuminu (Air Warriors, Abuja), and Aderemi Adewunmi (MFM, Lagos), who were both added to the team due to their exploits in the Zenith Bank Women Basketball League last season. While Sotuminu guided league debutants Air Warriors to the 2019 title, Adewunmi’s tactical awareness saw MFM grab a continental ticket and narrowly missed out on winning the title.
Sources:
Complete Sports
Featured Image Source: Pulse NG
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