D’Tigress
A board member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Col. Samuel Ahmedu (rtd) on Saturday said that he was elated with the D’Trigress’ victory against Mozambique at the ongoing Afrobasket tournament in Mali.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that D’Tigress defeated Mozambique, 80-69 in their opening game in the ongoing competition which dunked off Aug. 18 in Bamako, Mali.
Reacting to the victory, Ahmedu said that winning the first game, which is usually more difficult especially against a very tactically sound team like Mozambique, was something to be happy about.
Ahmedu, who is a high ranking FIBA Technical Commissioner, described the Mozambican team as a well-oiled machine despite being at the early stage of rebuilding their team.
“We are happy that we won. It doesn’t matter, whether it is by 11, 5 or 3 points, a win is a win. It’s good to start well.
“”At a stage we were running away with 17 points but they fought back in the last quarter in a desperate mode and reduced it to 11 points,’’ Ahmedu said.
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Ahmedu, who is also the international representative on the Musa Kida- led NBBF board, revealed that apart from the results, he noticed that the girls were in the best physical conditions.
“The major positives that I have taken from this game are that even at the end of the game, it was obvious that our team could go another half.
“We have not left everything on the court, we just played to win and we trailed only once throughout the game. It shows we have the staying power and we have so many offensive weapons.”
Ahmedu described D’Tigress team as one that can go physical if situation warrants.
“We have physical players like Aisha Mohammed, Cecilia Okoye, Evelyn Akhator and, but above all, we don’t let our strength determine our game, we try to let our skills determine our game.”
Ahmedu added that it was good to be physical so that the team will not be intimidated in a situation where their opponents decide to go hard and tough on the court.
NAN reports that D’Tigress will play their next group game against Congo Democratic who lost their opening group match to Egypt, 72-99.
In other results decided on match day one, defending champions Senegal beat Guinea 105-39, Cote D’Ivoire defeated Central African Republic, 104-57.
Angola edeged Cameroon, 78-56, host Mali trahsed Tunisia, 86-48.
Source: G Sport
