By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s Senior Men Basketball team, D’Tigers, have been placed 5th in ranking by the global governing body FIBA ahead of Window Four of the 2023 World Cup qualifier, African zone.
Heritage Times HT reports that at least 12 teams are competing for five slots allocated to Africa in the second round (window four) of qualifier which kicks off on Friday August 26, 2022 at Abidjan, Cote d’ivoire.
The countries are Cote d’ivoire, Cape Verde, Angola, Nigeria, Uganda, Guinea, South Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Congo DR, Senegal and Cameroon.
The power ranking according to FIBA revealed the strength of each team and their possibilities of securing the ticket.
According to the ranking, Nigeria is placed in 5th position with South Sudan, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Egypt respectively ahead of the continent’s most populous nation.
For the Nigeria team already in Abidjan, the addition of Tokyo 2020 Olympians – Josh Okogie, Ike Nwamu, Miye Oni, and the return of Coach Mike Brown has boosted the D’Tigers chances for the next three games against Angola, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire.
The last time Nigeria visited Abidjan, they experienced their worst result in African basketball in the last two decades after a humiliating 76-46 defeat to Cote d’Ivoire in the last window of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers.
For the host of this competition, what appears like a blow has hit them after two of their key players withdrew from the team.
The country’s team invited players who stormed the team’s camp in Abidjan on Monday August 22 without the duo of Matt Costello and Assemian Moulare.
Both players played a key role in the team getting to this level and their absence will surely affect the team’s balance.
On the contrary, the return of Souleyman Diabate, who sat out in Window three (first round) of the African Qualifiers in July, represents a huge addition to the Elephants.
The Ivorians who won all their games in the third Window will face Nigeria’s D’Tigers in the group opening game.
Sixteen countries earlier begun the qualifying series designed in five tournament windows over 15 months period between November 2021 and February 2023.
At the end of third window, four nations with least points were dropped.
In 2023, the eventual top five finishers from Africa will make it to the World Cup which will kickoff August 23, and terminate September 10.
Japan, Indonesia and Philippines are joint hosts of the dunking and slamming mundial.
