Udeaja, Atosu Say D’Tigress Ready For Afrobasket

Nigerian female basketball national team, D’Tigress players, Chioma Udeaja and Upe Atosu have declared that they are their colleagues are ready to face any opponents at the 2017 FIBA African Basketball Championship.
The championship for Women holds from August 18 to 27 in Bamako, Mali, ahead of which Udeaja and Atosu say they are ready to help Nigeria do better than the third place finish they had at the 2015 edition of the competition in Cameroon, which was won by Senegal.
Nigeria are in Group B alongside defending champions Senegal, Egypt, Guinea, Mozambique and DR Congo.
D’Tigress will play their first match on August 18 against Mozambique, ahead of which the team’s foreign-based members began camping July in Orlando, USA under the supervision of American coach, Sam Vincent.
They will join the home-based players in Lagos on Saturday for the final preparations for Mali 2017.
The home-based team are being managed Dolphins coach, Ochuko Okworogun and First Bank handler, Peter Ahmedu.
Udeaja and Atosu said the coaches had drilled them enough to face any opponents and they can make another mark for Nigeria.
They believe the team can repeat their feats of winning the Afrobasket Women twice in 2003 and 2005 – with Vincent in charge of the team – while they finished third twice in 1997 and 2015
On his part, Vincent has pruned his squad to nine players, as the team gets ready to arrive in Lagos for the final preparations for Mali 2017.
The camp in Florida formed the second part of the preparations for the women’s AfroBasket 2017 holding in Mali from August 18 to 27.
Players in the Nigerian league and those based in Europe, who were already on holiday in the country, were also in camp simultaneously in Lagos from July 24.
Both groups will merge to produce the final 12 players for Bamako, ahead of which a member of Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and president of FIBA Africa Zone Three, Sam Ahmedu confirmed that Vincent would arrive in Nigeria with only nine of the players from Orlando.
NBBF vice-president, Babs Ogunade also confirmed that the ladies in Orlando would leave their U.S. base tomorrow for Nigeria.
Vincent, who made a return to Nigerian basketball this summer, said he was very proud of the players he worked with in nearly the last two weeks.
Vincent wrote on social media: “This is a great group of young ladies that have been working very hard in camp. Proud of all of you! And looking forward to meeting the Nigeria-based women soon.”