D’Tigers coach, Alex Nwora has dropped eight home based players from the 14 invited to jostle for places ahead of the 2017 FIBA Afrobasket Championship which holds from Friday September 8 to September 16 in Tunis, Tunisia and Dakar, Senegal.
The players include Eli Abraham, Onyeka Okeke, Yakubu Sylvanus, Echoibi Victor, Joel Ejigba, David Godwin, Mojuba Oyeleye and Ibrahim Olajuwon.
With 16 players left in camp, four other players will be dropped from the team before they depart for the tournament on Tuesday. The reigning Afrobasket champions are drawn in Group B of the tournament alongside Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire. They will play all their group games in Tunisia.
Completesportsnigeria.com can also that that the D’Tigres’ full squad list for the 2017 FIBA Afrobasket Championship which kicks off on Friday will be released on Monday.
D’Tigers team captain, Ike Diogu,was however confident about the team’s chances of defending the title won in 2015 despite missing several players who were instrumental to their success.
Shane Lawal, Ben Uzoh, Alade Aminu, Al Farouq Aminu, Michael Umeh, Chamberlain Oguchi will play no part in the D’Tigers title defence in Tunisia.
“Well, this is what we have to work with. Obviously, there are a few things out of our control especially with the Nigerian Basketball Federation,” Diogu told Completesportsnigeria.com ahead of their friendly game against a selected all-star team at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium Lagos..
“But we are happy to be here. All we can do is go out there and play to the best of our abilities. We have some good guys here so, I’m excited to see what happens.