By Amosu Adeboye, LAGOS
D’Tigers head coach Alex Nwora has praised his team’s determination after they picked a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and backed the side to make some noise at the games.
The West Africans overcame a nervous moments in the final quarter to record a decisive 86-73 victory against host nation China at the full-packed and intimidating Guaznghou Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Nwora’s charges finished the FIBA Basketball World Cup with a 3-2 record and seal directry qualification to the Olympics.
This will be Nigeria’s third consecutive Olympics appearance after they made their debut at the London 2012 Olympics before returning to the big stage at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as the reigning African champions and finishing 11th.
Nwora was particularly delighted with his side’s showing against the Chinese and stated that the team will prepare very well for the Olympics.
“We have a lot of talent but we showed resiliency,”
“We weren’t going to settle with leaving China with a loss.
“We’re going to make the necessary preparations now so that we can be very, very good at the Olympics.”
