By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s senior Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress, went down a second time in a consecutive 2024 Olympics warm-up game to Serbia in Belgrade on Sunday evening.
The African champions lost 62:70 points to the 10th-ranked country in the FIBA World ranking.
The loss by Nigeria follows an earlier 67-73 defeat against Germany two days ago in Berlin.
The Nigerian team will play their final warm-up game against Japan on July 24th in Lille, France, before the start of the basketball event at the Olympics.
Nigeria faces a titanic battle against Canada, Australia, and host France in group B.
Boxing Minus
Meanwhile, one of the three Nigerian boxers heading to the Paris 2024 Olympics, Dolapo Omole, has been knocked out by injury.
The boxer’s coach, Adura Olalehin, confirmed that the two times African Featherweight champion is officially out of the Paris Olympics “due to a medical issue Dolapo is not going to Paris,” Olalehin told AFBC Communications.
Senegalese Replacement
The pugilist has been replaced by Ethiopian boxer Leta Fikremariyam Yadesa, the same boxer he defeated in the final of the African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Dakar, Senegal, in September 2023, to punch the qualification ticket.
The sad event reduced Nigeria’s Olympic boxing team to two boxers.
Cynthia Ogunsemilore will compete for honours in the Women’s Lightweight 60kg and Adams Olaore in the Men’s Heavyweight 92kg.
Nigeria last won a medal in the event in Atlanta 1996 where Donkan Dokiwari won the Bronze Medal in the Super heavyweight category.
