Joe Apu
Assistant national team coach of Nigeria’s D’Tigress, Peter Favour Ahmedu has declared that his team is not scared of Nigeria’s opponents in the Spain 2018 FIBA World Cup.
D’Tigress were yesterday in Tenerife, Spain drawn into the same group with Argentina, Australia and Turkey.
Ahmedu admitted that Nigeria is in a tough group but added that his girls will survive the group.
“Turkey, Argentina and Australia are among the top teams in the world and I don’t expect that it would be easy for us. However, we cannot be intimidated. We’ll go out there and compete against them not minding their ranking in the world.
“With adequate preparation and quality friendly matches, I believe we can give a good account of ourselves. We have great players who can compete against any opposition.”
At a brief ceremony held on Tuesday at the Teatro Leal, San Cristobal de la Laguna, Spain, Nigeria was drawn in group B for the biggest women basketball tournament coming up between 22nd and 30th of September, 2018.
Nigeria would be hoping to surpass their 2006 outing where they lost all their group games against China, Russia and United States of America before suffering another defeat in the classification game against Senegal to finish 16th.
Reacting to the draw, Dallas Wings player and one of the most influential Nigerians in the WNBA, Evelyn Akhator said, “I think it will be a great outing for us being drawn alongside Australia, Turkey and Argentina. I have watched the Turkish national team play and I am confident that we will surmount them. On the other hand Australia and Argentina, we will give a good fight with all hopes of winning.”
A confident Akhator who powered the D’Tigress to their Afrobasket win in Mali believes that there is an endless world of possibilities if the team can have a good preparation coupled with relentless effort and determination of the players as well as the management.
“A build up on our previous success at the Afrobasket would surely bear fruitful result.”
Head coach of the side, Sam Vincent revealed that the draw has officially kick-started their preparation for the World Cup and their goal of securing a medal.
“I am excited and confident about our position in the draw held yesterday. It moves us one step closer to our goal of securing a medal in the 2018 FIBA World Cup”.