As African nations prepare for the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket Championship 2023 to be held in Rwanda, Nigerian basketball enthusiasts are terrified at the possibility of foreign-based female players boycotting the national team’s camp.
According to impeccable sources, some of the players vowed not to play for the country again following the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw D’Tigress from last year’s women FIBA Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, in the heat of the leadership crisis that dogged the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).
Nigeria has been successful on the African stage winning the last three editions of the competition, and has a total of 5 wins; only second to Senegal who are the most successful African team with a total of 12 wins. It is also worth noting that D’Tigress remain unbeaten in every African competition since 2017.
Speaking on the planned boycott, NBBF Vice President, Babs Ogunade, said that preparations were in top gear for D’Tigress to defend their title in Kigali from July 28 to August 6, 2023, adding that the NBBF will approach the players in the list for the competition to get them in the team.
In the draw held in Maputa, Mozambique recently, D’Tigress will kick start their title defense against Egypt and the Leopards of DR Congo in Group D of the 2023 Women’s Afrobasket Championship while Rwanda and Angola will battle the winner of the Zone qualifiers in Group A.
Group B consists of Mozambique, Cameroon and a yet to be named team as Senegal, Mail and Uganda will fight for supremacy in Group C.
