Nigeria Clinches 1st African Basketball Championship Title

Nigeria’s national men basketball team, D’Tigers, made history on Sunday in Tunisia when they defeated Angola 74-65 in the 2015 Afrobasket Championship final to be crowned African Champions for the first time. Prior to game, Nigeria had never beaten the Southern African nation, who have won the Afrobasket Championship a record 11 times, but D’Tigers surprised everyone. D’Tigers’ shooting guard, Chamberlain Oguchi scored 19 points and was voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and was also named in the team of the tournament alongside teammate, Al-Farouq Aminu. Oguchi was presented with the top award by the foremost African basketball championship’s partner, Tissot, in recognition of his outstanding performances in the competition. Oguchi, 29, also topped the All-Star Five list of Afrobasket 2015. His Nigeria teammate, Al-Farouk Aminu also made the list. Others in the All-Star Five are Carlos Morais, Makram Ben Romdhane and Gorgui Dieng. Champions, D’Tigers of Nigeria have booked an automatic ticket for Rio 2016 Olympic Games. They will be joined in Brazil by either finalists, Angola or semi-finalists Tunisia and Senegal who will compete in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament.