Los Angeles Sparks of America star, Nneka Ogwumike says she has put behind her the snub she got from USA in the race to the Olympic Games, after which she was declared ineligible to play for Nigeria’s D’Tigress, megasportsarena.com reports.
Having played a number of b-rated competitive games for the US, Ogwumike could not gain clearance from Federation of International Basketball (FIBA) to feature for Nigeria in Tokyo, Japan, even after she had been left out of USA’s squad to the Games.
However, rather than keep sulking over the double-blow that her Olympics aspirations received in July, Ogwumike says she has put the setback behind her and is now thinking only of excelling in USA’s Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
It would be another opportunity foe heroics from Ogwumike, who is highly rated as a six-time WNBA All-Star and former most valuable player, who has a long history with Team USA, but the coach, Dawn Staley cited the player’s knee injury as a big reason that she was left off the roster.
Indeed, Ogwumike earlier suffered a knee sprain in June, but team medics had declared that she was slated to be healthy and fit again in time for USA’s first game in Tokyo, but Staley had no place for the Amazon, who has averaged 16.4 points and seven rebounds in five games this season.
She is already making the best of her 10th season in the WNBA league, after she and her sister, Chiney as well as Elizabeth Williams all tried unsuccessfully to compete for D’Tigress in Tokyo, as their appeals were denied by International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
While they are already trying to play for Nigeria at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the focus for now is on the WNBA from the oldest of four Ogwumike sisters, who has played 59 international games with Team USA.
She was part of their gold medal runs at the 2014 and 2018 FIBA World Cups, but could not make the roster for the 2016 Olympics and was again left out of the squad to Tokyo 2020, which left her devastated and she quickly sought the Nigerian option as an armistice.
Many basketball fans and pundits were stunned when Ogwumike was left off USA’s roster for the Tokyo Olympics and, though she admits that having to watch the team win a seventh straight gold medal in Japan was tough for her, she has now shaken off the setback.
“I’ve always been described as resilient. I had to kind of tell myself that a lot to make sure that I believe it because it’s been a few weeks of feeling invaluable or unworthy.
“It’s been very difficult. I just want to play basketball. Now, I’m just really grateful to be playing with my team.
“I’m grateful to be on a team with people that care about me, and I just want to play. I just want to play basketball,” Ogwumike concluded.
