Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team
are set to face Argentina in France in a friendly match as they prepare
for the Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Nantes, France.
The WOQT will hold between June 13 and
19 and D’Tigress, who are ranked 42nd in the world, will play in Group C
against Belarus and South Korea. Nigeria will play Argentina on June 8
and 9 in France and the team is expected to depart the country for
France before the match.
According to the team’s head coach,
Scott Nnaji, the team is currently waiting for their visas from the
French Embassy before proceeding to France for the tournament.
“The team is currently on ground and we
are waiting for our visas to enable us leave in time for the friendly
match we have against Argentina next week,” Nnaji told our correspondent
on Friday.
As a part of their preparations for the
WOQT, Nigeria, who were without Nnaji, played Turkey in the first of
their friendly matches on May 27 and 28. They lost the two matches 68-56
and 67-56 but Nnaji said the match would not affect the players’
attitude to their next friendly against Argentina.
“There is still a competition for places
in the team for the Olympic qualifiers. The first match against Turkey
last week was not played by the full players. It was meant to measure
our strength and weaknesses,” he said.
“The players who played that game are
back in Nigeria now and we have 17 players here which will be cut down
to 14 after the game against Argentina. Thereafter we will have our
final squad of 12.
“Argentina are a good side but we will
play with a good attitude and not just see it as a friendly match. It
will help us to further identify our strengths and weaknesses we may not
have observed from the first match.”
In contrast to Nigeria, Argentina, who
are ranked 15th by FIBA, during the week named their final squad for the
WOQT. The South Americans finished fourth at the 2016 South American
Women’s Championship in May but are already in France to begin
preparations for the qualifiers. They have also played Spain and
Venezuela in friendly matches.
President of FIBA Africa Zone 3, Sam Ahmedu, believes that Argentina should not be as tough as Turkey for Nigeria.
He said, “Argentina aren’t as highly
ranked as Turkey, so if rankings are anything to go by, they should not
be as tough as the Turks to us. Anybody can beat the other team. It all
boils down to preparation.
“Since the matches are to identify the
weaknesses of the team ahead of the main tournament, the players and the
coaches should learn from them and get a ticket for the Olympics.”
