The Nigeria Basketball Federation has assured that the senior men and women teams will face quality oppositions as part of their preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games.
While briefing members of the board during their first meeting of the year held on Wednesday, the federation president, Engr Musa Kida said no stone will be left unturned to get the teams ready.
“We have received some friendly game invitations from countries from Europe, America, and Africa. We are currently going through these requests to pick the best for our teams.”
Explaining the yardsticks for these friendlies, Kida said, “The teams will be facing some quality oppositions from different continents and it is expedient that we get them teams that will provide something close to what they are going to see in Tokyo.”
Kida reiterated that the teams are not going to the Olympics just to add to the number of teams, hence the need for thorough preparation.
“We have not decided on the countries to play against, but in the coming weeks, we will finalise all arrangements and make the big announcements”.
Both teams ranked number one in Africa emerged as the only team sport flying the country’s flag in Tokyo after an unprecedented qualification.
The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) is the governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in Nigeria. NBBF has been an affiliate of FIBA Africa since 1963, and its offices are located in Abuja and Lagos.
Nigeria national men’s basketball team has been placed 1st in Africa and 16th in the world ranking while the women national team are placed 6th in Africa and 42nd in the world. This was achieved through the painstaking planning of the Board of the federation lead by Tijjani Umar.
Nigeria has won several medals at the All-Africa Games, and placed 4th in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, falling short to 3rd place England.
The Nigerian male basketball team D’tigers participated in the 2018 Gold coast commonwealth games and lost all games they played.