Sports
EBONYI basketball fans on Monday extolled the D’ Tigress for successfully defending the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) Afrobasket title, describing it as `a real dream team’.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the nation’s female basketball team defeated hosts Senegal 60-55 in the final played on Sunday evening, to win the competition a record four times: 2003, 2005, 2017 and 2019.
The fans told NAN in Abakaliki that the team’s resilience, especially in the final rekindled memories of the famed United States of America (USA) men’s team of 1992, regarded as the best in basketball’s history.
Ikechukwu Achu, Ebonyi Basketball Head Coach, congratulated the players for their efforts, noting that they displayed the stuff of true champions.
“The players were dedicated all through the team’s preparations without any contending issue and showed throughout the competition that they were truly in form.
The Nigerian Basketball Federation led by Musa Kida provided necessary logistics needed for the team to excel and prove that it had the capacity to steer the sport to greater heights,” he said.
Emmanuel Utobo, Ebonyi Director of Sports, also congratulated the team and urged the Federal Government and relevant sports authorities to adequately reward it.
“The team faced the Senegalese players and their fans in the final but still held its nerves to win the game and successfully defend its title.
“Adequate reward and enhancement of their welfare will motivate the players to excel in subsequent engagements and encourage budding basketball players to take the sport seriously,” he said.
Juliet Okoku, an Ebonyi-based basketball player, said she was motivated by the team’s success and would be more dedicated to attain the heights of the D’Tigress players.
“I commend the coach, Otis Hugley, for retaining a bulk of the team which won the last edition and featured at the 2018 FIBA World Cup.
“The players being mostly foreign-based should be commended for their patriotism and for not allowing internal issues in the federation among others to distract them,” she said.
Mrs Jane Anosike, a civil servant, urged the men’s national team – the D’Tigers to emulate its female compatriots and excel at the forthcoming FIBA men’s World Cup in China.
“The Nigerian sporting attitude is the ‘never say die spirit’ as the D’Tigress should approach its matches with courage and no undue respect for the highly rated teams.
“This attitude guided the D’Tigress to reach a historic quarter=final, placing the 2018 FIBA women’s World Cup and beat Senegal in spite of the intimidating antics of its fans at the Afrobasket championship,” she said. (NAN)
– Aug. 19, 2019 @ 11:49 GMT |
Tags: Ebonyi basketball fans extol D’Tigress for retaining title
