Tag: Junior D’Tigers

Highly fatigued Nigeria’s Under-18 boys’ team, the Junior D’Tigers,  last night  lost their opening match to Egypt 70-57 in the on-going Afrobasket U18 competition in Pretoria, South Africa.

The young Nigerians had taken the lead winning the first quarter 17-14. Egypt took the second quarter and therefore led the match with scores at 37-32 in their favour at half time. The Junior Tigers pushed hard to reduce the gap at 52-48 at the end of the third quarter and the toll of their lack of rest took hold of them in the last quarter.

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The young Tigers arrived in South Africa for the Afrobasketball competition only on Wednesday ‘s morning after the long delay in Abuja.  The South African High Commission had denied them visas on their first application.

The reactions of Nigerians to the sad development and the intervention of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and FIBA changed the situation. The young players eventually left Abuja Tuesday and joined the girls early Wednesday in Pretoria where they are scheduled to play against Egypt Wednesday night.

The Nigerian girls also lost their opening game to Egypt. The boys will play their next match against Angola on Saturday.

The South African Consulate at the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja has denied  the Nigerian Under-18 boys’ basketball players entry visas thus jeopardizing  Nigeria’s participation  to the AfroBasket Men’s U18 competition starting in South Africa today.

The Nigerian boys are billed to face Egypt on Tuesday in Pretoria.

The Vice Chairman of the Youth Development Committee of the Nigeria Basketball Federation(NBBF), Ugo Udezue,  who is already in Pretoria with the first team was shocked when he was alerted of the development. He sees the development as a total sabotage.

“First of all it’s rather unfortunate that an African country needs a visa to travel to another African country,” Udezue  said. “Secondly, this is against the spirit of sportsmanship. These kids have sacrificed too much for a visa consular officer to deny them the opportunity to represent Nigeria globally.”

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The players who trained and camped in Abuja on return from Abidjan are in total shock, tears, and pain as they watch their dreams of being at the FIBA World Championship fade on account of the South Africans denying them entry.

The act of refusing the team visas seems like a deliberate attempt to stop the Junior D’Tigers as the South African Embassy in Lagos cleared the girls to travel and they are already in Pretoria and set for their opening match against Egypt today.

The girls were camped in Lagos on their return from Cote d’Ivoire where both teams finished as winners of the FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers. The NBBF sent the names of the boys and girls in a single letter to the embassy.

It was learned that the NBBF has already complained to FIBA Africa, the South African hosts, and Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry but it was gathered  that the calls made to  South African officials in Pretoria have made little or no impact.