Nigerian Basketball Federation vice president Babs Ogunade has stated that the chances of players from the domestic league making D’Tigers squad for the forthcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics are very slim, The PUNCH reports.
The rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 7.
Ogunade said it would be ridiculous to invite players who had been inactive for over three years for the trip to Tokyo.
The basketball league in Nigeria had been suspended since 2018 after members of the previous NBBF board stopped the current board, led by Musa Ahmadu, Kida from organising the Premier Basketball League, which stalled the growth of the game, according to Ogunade.
A court judgment in January, however, reversed the order, with the men’s league set to dunk off this year.
“The Olympics is not a jamboree,” Ogunade told The PUNCH.
“There have been calls that local players must be included in D’Tigers for the Olympics. It is a ridiculous argument for a player from the Nigerian league to be listed after being inactive for three years.
“We look at the players who approach us, and we select based on the best of them in order to make our team stronger, and FIBA rules allow us to do that.”
Ogunade added that the number of invited overseas-based players for camping could be as high as 16.
Denver Nuggets’ guard Monte Morris, Brooklyn Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie, Dallas Mavericks’ Wes Iwundu and Detroit Pistons’ Jahlil Okafor are some of the players who could join up with D’Tigers ahead of the Olympics.
D’Tigers, who are making a third straight appearance at the Olympics, are drawn in Group B alongside Australia and the qualifiers from Serbia and Croatia
Thursday, April 18, 2024