Oyedeji tips D’ Tigers to qualify for Men’s Afrobasket knockout stage
International Basketball Federation, (FIBA), Ambassador and member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, (NBBF), Olumide Oyedeji, is very confident that Nigeria’s men national basketball team, D’Tigers, have what is takes to roar and conquer at the FIBA Afrobasket Men’s Championship tagged ‘Angola 2025’.
He stated this Tuesday in an interview with Newstap.com.ng
The NBA ambassador, explained that despite Nigeria being in a tough Group comprising back-to-back defending champions Tunisia, Cameroon and Madagascar, the 2015 champions will surely pull it’s way through Group B into the last eight.
“Nigeria is in a tough group, no doubt about that , but I believe we’re going to come out of the Group unscratched We have both the talent and the ability to qualify, we are not going to be a push over, we will make our presence felt on the continent,” he said.
He added that despite Nigeria’s strong presence on the continental scene, no team should be taken for granted.
“Every team is good and there won’t be any easy game. All the teams that participated in the Olympic Qualifiers are all good enough to wreck havoc,” he stressed.
The captain of the 2015 Afrobasket winning team, went on to add that no group or team in the championship will have it easy as there are no small teams in the competition.
“I don’t see any team that will be a easily knocked out, we have heavyweights like South Sudan, Central African giants Cameroon, defending champions Tunisia, North African powerhouse Egypt, warlords Cote d’Ivoire and we also have Angola who will be playing at home, it’s not going to be an easy ride,” he explained.
Olumide Oyedeji, the CEO of Olumide Oyedeji Youth Foundation, also had some nice words for the Head Coach of the D’Tigers, Abdulrahman, a man he strongly believes has the power and the desire to get the job done.
“I believe that coach Abdulrahman knows what to do and how he wants his team to be, he is experienced, he’s man enough, he knows where to strengthen his team, he wants to win, and he will do everything within his might to achieve that,” he emphasized.
Oyedeji, who doubles as President of three major basketball clubs further added that with the proper support from the Nigeria Basketball Federation and the Nigeria Sports Commission, (NSC), D’Tigers will be unstoppable.
The 16 participating teams have been divided into 4 Groups, of 4 teams each, with the top two teams in each Group advancing to the knock out stage of the competition, scheduled to take place in Angola between 12 and 24 of August.
GROUP A
Cape Verde
Côte d’Ivoire
DR Congo
Rwanda
GROUP B
Cameroon
Madagascar
Nigeria
Tunisia
GROUP C
Angola
Guinea
Libya
South Sudan
GROUP D
Egypt
Mali
Senegal
Uganda
