Nigeria’s female basketball team, D’Tigress have secured qualification to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, despite losing 100-46 to world champions the USA on Day 2 of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.
D’Tigress qualification was made possible after host Belgium defeated Senegal 97-66, to also qualify from Group A.
Nigeria, who earlier defeated African rivals Senegal 72-65 on Match Day 1, joins USA and Belgium to qualify from the group.
“Against teams like the USA, you have to be focused from the jump, and you can’t slack at all. I am still proud of my girls. We have a long way to go and have a lot of improving to do,” said Nigerian player Elizabeth Balogun.
“It was a rough one. We didn’t execute what we were looking for. I challenged my girls to play with fire and focus, but we lacked that. We came back in the second half with more fight, but by that point it was too late,” said Nigeria head coach Rena Wakama.
Nigeria has now secured back-to-back appearances at the showpiece event, having also featured last time at Tokyo 2020.
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