Paris Olympics: D’Tigress will have adequate preparation – NBBF 

The Nigeria women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress, will have adequate preparation ahead of the summer Olympic games in Paris, according to the head of the basketball federation in the country.

The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), the governing body for basketball in Nigeria, Musa Kida disclosed this while speaking in Abuja ahead of the federation’s board meeting on Monday.

D’Tigress secured qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in a qualifier in February.

The 2024 Olympic Games will be held in the French city of Paris between July and August 2024 and the NBBF boss said there were plans for three phases of camping for the Nigerian girls.

“There would be reparation camping in Nigeria to Ghana with the pool that we have within the country.

“The second camp will be in the US for the people who are playing in the US and the environments there. And then the last part of the camp which would be for the selected team basically.

“So we have three phases that we are looking at. And I think with that kind of preparation, we do hope that our performance will be more outstanding than the last time that we went to the Olympics,” he said.

D’Tigress have won the last four editions of FIBA Women’s AfroBasket championships, showing their dominance in the African continent.

The NBBF said there are plans to bring in more players to make the team stronger ahead of the Games.

However, Kida hinted that there would be no massive overhauling of the technical crew of the team apart from a few technical assistants requested by the team’s coach, Rena Wakama.

While reeling out the programmes of the federation for the year, Kida lamented that paucity of funds had hindered it from carrying out all its activities seamlessly.

He disclosed that years of internal wrangling have cost the NBBF much in terms of sponsorship and funding, calling on the federal government to release funds early for the participation of the women’s team in Paris.