By JOE APU
AfroBasket 2017 Most Valuable player Ike Diogu has pledged to lead Nigeria’s D’ Tigers to book a World Cup ticket when the qualifiers commences in November across Africa.
Diogu, who has captained Nigeria in two consecutive AfroBasket championships, affirmed his willingness to always serve the country as long as he is fit.
“I’m happy that as a team we got to the final. It has been a worthy championship and I commend my teammates, the coaching crew and the Nigeria Basketball Federation board members led by Musa Kida for their belief in us. As for me, I want assure all that I will make myself available in the bid for Nigeria to be at the 2019 World Cup in China. It is a task that we need to accomplish,” he said
The 34-year old power forward recorded a tournament-high 22 points per game, and averaged 8.7 rebounds per game at the 16-team FIBA Africa’s most important competition.
Diogu, who was also been named on the All-Tournament team, was the tournament’s highest scorer with a total of 132 points and was Nigeria’s highest points scorer in four of their six games at the tournament.
Nigeria will compete alongside Uganda, Rwanda and Mali in Group B of the AfroBasket World Cup qualifiers with matches billed to commence in February of 2018.