‘D’Tigress’ path to Paris 2024 Olympics smooth, but also slippery’

Nigeria’s women national basketball team, D’Tigress, have been presented with the opportunity to make a back-to-back outing at the Olympic Games with the draws released by FIBA yesterday, a stakeholder, Sabinus Ikewuaku, has said.

He added, however, that the country could easily fail to make it to Paris if the team and the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) do not prepare adequately for the challenges ahead.

Nigeria has been drawn with defending champions, United States, Belgium, and Senegal in a qualifying competition to hold in Belgium. 12 other teams will battle for qualification in three other venues. The qualifying tournaments are due to be played between February 4 and 11.

Speaking on the draws, Ikewuaku, who said Nigeria’s group is favourable to the D’Tigress, believes the Rena Wakama side can beat both Senegal and Belgium if they get the required preparation.

“We defeated Senegal in the final of the last FIBA Afrobasket to win the championship, even with little preparation. So, if the team gets adequate preparation and are psychological ready, they can repeat the feat in Brussels. Belgium will have the home support, but in the past, D’Tigress have won great games despite fans’ support for their opponents. So, I don’t see that being a serious hindrance.

“The United States are the world’s best team, so many expect them to beat Nigeria. But we could surprise them if we present a united and well-prepared team. In any case, we should finish at least second or third in the group,” he said.

The four round-robin Paris 2024 qualifying competitions are due be held in China, Antwerp, Belem and Sopron, with each featuring four teams. Both France and the United States will compete, despite already qualifying for Paris 2024 as the host nation and world champions respectively.

The top three countries in each group will qualify for next year’s Games, except the tournaments featuring the French and U.S. where only the two best other sides will book an Olympic spot.

China, the world number two side who lost last year’s World Cup final to the US, will host its qualifier in a city to be confirmed.

The Asia Cup champions will be joined by Olympic bronze medalists and world number seven side France and New Zealand, as well as a team from an Americas qualifying tournament scheduled to take place in Colombia next month.

This will see the hosts, Canada, Puerto Rico and Venezuela locking horns for two places at the Olympic qualifying events. The world number one US have won the Olympic title at every Games since Atlanta 1996 and are nine-time champions in all.

World Cup bronze medalists and world number three side Australia will travel to Brazil for the tournament in Belem. Brazil are ranked eighth in the world with Serbia, fourth at Tokyo 2020, and Germany completing the group. Spain, ranked fourth in the world, will play in Sopron in Hungary.

Olympic silver medalists Japan, the world number nine side, and an Americas qualifier complete the group alongside the host nation.