Nigerian Female Basketball Team, D'Tigress and Olympics dream

Posted : 30 June 2023

Just like their male counterparts, Nigerian female Basketball Team, D'Tigress are a force to reckon with in the African circle and can be considered as one of the powerful teams from the continent.

The early 2000 ushered in an era of increased professional status for Nigerian women's basketball as well as major developments in the sport at the female level.

The Nigerian women's basketball team D`Tigress even won the gold twice at the Afrobasket Championship in 2003 and 2005, however before this, the team had come 3rd in the same championship in 1997 in Kenya.

D'Tigers continued the surge towards continental recognition as they also claimed three successive victories in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Prior to this dominance, D'Tigeress had come 4th in 2011, 6th in 2013 and third in 2015.

D'Tigress' journey to the Olympics appearance started late and those times, the team had qualified for the ultimate sport fiesta; they are always regarded as an underdog.

The Nigerian Female Basketball Team made their first ever appearance in the Olympics in the year 2004 after seventh attempt, but did not make it beyond the preliminary stage having been placed 11th on the log.

D’Tigress once again qualified for the Olympics in 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and also made insignificant outing as they once again crashed out in the preliminary stage on 11th position on the log again.

The main issue with the female Basketball team is not so different from the Male Basketball team as there was no adequate preparation and the team is mostly hurriedly assembled, and played against next opponent and they are predictably defeated by teams who are more ready for the Olympics showpiece.

D'Tigress in one of their good days defeated France, the No.5 ranked team, a team they were expected to lose against with their under preparation and the absence of their captain and leader, Ezinne Kalu, but they surprised everyone with a 67-65 win.

This came despite losing the first quarter by 17 points as Victoria Macaulay posted a monster performance that saw her drain 19 points, which included the game-winning three-pointer.

On Sunday, they confirmed their ticket to Australia with a 73-69 win. As France lost 103-70, D’Tigress came second in the group standings.

With the unexpected victory against France, D'Tigress began to care about the tag as underdogs, and decided to pull more strings.

Howbeit, Nigeria has a long way to go as the country is yet to come up with grassroots developmental drive for the country as the Federation does not have the basketball tradition that other countries have.

What is important is what many believe the foreign players can do, leaving out the home-grown talents, those that might be at par with their foreign counterparts, save the structure and atmosphere they are playing.

The level at which the female Basketball team finds itself speaks volume of the collapse of basketball leagues in the country.

Year 2022 was a nightmare most basketball faithfuls will like to forget in a hurry because of the unnecessary government intervention in the basketball affairs which led to Nigeria withdrawing from international basketball for two years.

President Muhammadu Buhari's government, however made a U-turn and reversed the ban. But it came too late for the women's national team, who have seen their place at the FIBA Women's World Cup taken up by Mali.

Ismaila Abubakar, an official at Nigeria's Sports Ministry, said that the reversal came after a meeting between Sports Minister Sunday Dare and FIBA, and receiving guarantees from the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to include all stakeholders in reconciliatory meetings going forward.

But that peace treaty is of little solace for D'Tigress players, who will not be able to compete at the FIBA showcase in September, after their place was given to Mali, who were the next-ranked team in their qualifying group. Nigeria had, ironically, beaten Mali in order to qualify.

NBBF President Musa Kida described the decision to reverse the ban as a major victory for Nigerian basketball, saying: "I am quite glad to see that this decision is reached, and it is a major victory for basketball. It gladdens our heart that the Federal Government has decided to return basketball to where it rightfully belongs."

But his happy response was certainly not shared by Adaora Elonu, captain of the Nigerian women's team, who said she'd rather not comment on the situation. Her team had beaten number five-ranked France, amongst others, to qualify for the World Cup.

She led Nigeria to Afrobasket gold the second time between 2017 and 2021.

D'Tigeress' 11th place finish in the Olympics is their best ever result in the past team's record.

For many basketball faithfuls, it's very important to qualify for the Olympic Games because then comes recognition and the future of Nigerian basketball.

"The argument that there is inadequate funding for D'Tigress is a narrative that should be discouraged.

"NBBF should have a plan for the 2024 Games."

Now, D'Tigress is preparing for another slot in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, they should not only strive for qualification, but go a step further to move beyond the preliminary stage to the knockout stage.

Nigerian Female Basketball Team, D'Tigress and Olympics dream

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