By Olalekan Okusan
As Nigeria’s D’Tigress takes on host Serbia today at the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, captain of the team, Adaora Elonu has said that the African champions won’t change their identity.
Technically, Nigeria has picked a slot at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after blowing away Mozambique 85-51 in their first match but the Nigerian ladies will face an uphill task against the home team and Elonu believes the D’Tigress are ready to take on any team based on instruction of the technical.
The 29-year-old said in a post-match press conference on Thursday that the team would continue to improve despite some of the players meeting for the first time.
“I think we did not start really well in the first quarter against Mozambique but we started getting our rhythm from the second quarter and this we maintained throughout the game. We have our identity and we want to maintain it in this competition regardless of the team we are facing,” she said.
She added: “We are going to do the same thing Serbia and it is important we keep our identity to play the way we have been playing. Hopefully, we can continue from where we started in our first game.”
Excited Coach Otis Hughley said the players have started to understand one another, while commending the team for putting up a good performance against Mozambique. “After the first quarter, we tried to get our identity and I am happy we are beginning to work as a unit and a good start point for us to get our bearing in this competition,” he said.
However, Mozambique has congratulated Nigeria for picking the ticket to Tokyo, while hoping for better luck next time.
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