BY JOE APU
Head coach of the women’s national team to the forthcoming Women Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Scott Nnaji has denied the 12-man list released on Fiba.com Wednesday.
According to D’Tigress coach who was at the Athens 2004 Olympics as an assistant coach, the list is not the final one as he only sent in 15 names.
“The list has not been released and that is the truth. The 12-man roster will be made public soon. The status of our French visas is still a factor and who knows any player can get injured and be replaced.
In the earlier list coach Nnaji was quoted as having included guard Joyce Ekworomadu to his squad for the 2016 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT), billed for Nantes, France next week.
Nnaji also called up Promise Amukamara, Uju Ugoka, Elem Ibiam and Ezinne Kalu to join the core of the team that finished third at last year’s AfroBasket Women but left out the MVP of the Nigeria Zenith Bank League Nkechi Akashili from his 12-woman D’Tigress squad. Nnaji however insisted that his team have regrouped well after their defeat to Turkey over two legs and are ready for the WOQT challenge.
“These new players bring more energy at both ends of the court,” Nnaji told FIBA.com.
“We watched the film of our games against Turkey and we came to the conclusion that we lacked communication. But we are ready for the WOQT now.”
Both Amukamara and Kalu have good ball handling and should be key for us. Because of her size [1.94m], I expect Ibiam to help us in the paint.”
D’Tigress will need to pass their Group C test which includes Korea and Belarus if they are to advance to the Final Phase where they need a Quarter-Finals win or a triumph in the Fifth-Place game to ensure a place in Rio.