The Nigeria senior men and women’s
basketball teams have both arrived in Lomé, Togo for the 2018 Federation of
International Basketball Associations (FIBA) 3×3 Africa Cup.
Kano Pillars star, Azouma Dike, will lead the men’s team, comprised of club teammates, Abdul Yahaya (Kano Pillars), Lucky Subel (Kano Pillars) and Godwin David (Kano Pillars). The boys will be looking to make a statement when they meet their opponents, to further prove why D’Tigers have remained unbeaten so far in the
2019 FIBA Men’s World Cup qualification series.
The women’s 3×3 team will be led by top scorer, Nkechi Akaraiwe, who made 32 points, 2 assists and 5 rebounds, for the First Bank Women’s Basketball club to hand them the 2018 Zenith Bank Women League (2018 ZBWL).
The Most Valuable Player of the 2018 ZBWL, Grace Okonkwo, World Cup debutant, Nkem Uwa Akaraiwe, and 2018 3×3 u-18 African Youth Games MVP, Ijeh Fumnaya Linda, will also be lending their expertise to the Nigerian team, when they try to overturn last year’s results.
Recall that the Nigeria men’s team were champions of the 2017 FIBA 3×3 Africa Cup, while, the women’s team lost by a whisker to Mali in the 2017 final.
Nigeria will go against eleven teams including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’ Ivoire, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Togo, and Uganda, for a chance at the 2018 FIBA 3×3 Africa Cup.
Points garnered from this competition will go a long way to boost the teams chances of qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where the 3×3 basketball style will make a historic debut.
