By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria and Senegal, being the only African countries have been paired to face Belgium and basketball giants United States in the upcoming 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic qualifying tournaments.
This is after the draw for the competition which took place in Sopron, Hungary, was conducted.
It is no doubt a tough group, but a win might just be enough to send either sides to Paris Olympics.
Both the male and female Nigerian teams qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games where they failed to win a single match.
In Tokyo 2020, the Nigerian women side also known as D’Tigress were paired against host Japan, USA and France.
Available Paris Olympic Spots
With the draws concluded, it now means that the Road to Paris 2024 has been defined for every nation still chasing the 10 available Olympic tickets via the Qualifying Tournaments.
Among the 16 nations jostling for Olympic spots, only France and USA are guaranteed places as Olympic hosts and the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 champions respectively – although both will still play in the Qualifying Tournaments.
The 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament schedule will be announced at a later stage.
However before this, Canada, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Venezuela must first play at the FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in November, 2023, with the two highest-placed teams advancing.
The FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be held from February 8 to 11, 2024, in four cities, namely Antwerp, Belgium; Belem, Brazil; Sopron, Hungary; and TBC in China.
