Nigeria’s senior Women’s basketball team D’Tigress have arrived Bamako, the capital city of Mali for the 2017 FIBA Women Afrobasket tournament scheduled to start on Friday 18th of August.
The team which left Lagos, Nigeria aboard an Air Cote d’Ivoire flight had a stopover in Abidjan before connecting to Bamako.
The delegation led by the Vice President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Babatunde Ogunade on arrival at the Bamako’s Modibo Keita International Airport around 2pm local time was taken to their hotel by the protocol officer assigned to the team by the organisers of the event.
Head coach Sam Vincent thanked the leadership of NBBF for a hitch free flight to Bamako.
“The trip from Lagos was seamless and our flight was well organized. A hitch free trip to Abidjan and then to Bamako, so we are happy at how things are going so far.”
Vincent who hopes to lead the team to their third Afrobasket title in Mali said the team would have loved to train immediately after their arrival, but due to circumstances beyond their control, the training will have to start on Thursday.
“We wanted to train today, I would have loved to go to the gymnasium to train today, but we don’t have court time available. So, apparently, what they are telling us is that court time will start by 2pm tomorrow. If we can hit the gym today, we will get to work immediately.”
Vincent expressed satisfaction with his team and their readiness to take on Mozambique on Friday.
“I like the way the team is working right now; we feel good about the roaster. They are experienced players. We have got post players, shooters and we are solid on defence.”
According to him, the team just needs to play hard, play smart and work together to have the chance of winning the tournament.
