Gallant D’Tigress Bow out of Paris 2024 Basketball with Honours
Nigeria’s D’Tigress bowed out of the women’s basketball event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with their heads in the clouds despite losing to Team USA 74-88.
The Afrobasket champions were not disgraced as underdogs but attained historical and unprecedented success, winning the hearts of basketball fans not only in Africa but beyond.
Coach Rene Wakama and her players did an amazing job not being disgraced by the Americans in that quarterfinal fixture last night.
The Americans no doubt continued their charge for an eighth successive women’s basketball Olympic gold medal.
They will face Australia, who beat Serbia 85-67, on Friday with a place in the gold-medal final up for grabs.
Nigeria became the first African side – male or female – to reach the quarter-finals of an Olympic Games by beating Canada in their final group match on Sunday.
After registering a win on their Olympic debut in Athens in 2004, Nigeria had to wait 20 years for their second victory – beating Australia in their opening pool game on 29 July – but overcoming a vastly experienced USA was a step too far.
The team known as D’Tigress trailed the USA by nine points at the end of the first quarter, but that deficit swelled to 19 by the end of the second.
The USA started to assert their dominance in the third, opening a 28-point advantage, before wrapping up a comfortable night’s work at Accor Arena.
Since women’s basketball made its debut at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, the USA have won nine of a possible 12 gold medals.
Friday’s other semi-final will feature hosts France and Belgium after they beat Germany and Spain respectively.
Marine Johannes was key to France’s 84-71 victory, scoring a game-high 24 points.
France won silver at London 2012 and bronze at Tokyo 2020 and are looking to complete the set with Olympic gold on home soil.
Belgium’s women made their Olympic debut in 2020, finishing seventh, but are guaranteed to be competing for a medal in Paris following a 79-66 win against Spain.
The two losing nations in Friday’s semi-finals will head into the bronze medal match.
Assar Reclaims Top Spot as Africa’s Best-ranked Star
. Aruna slides to 20 as Omotayo returns to top 100
In a remarkable turn of events, Omar Assar’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has catapulted him up the world rankings.
The Egyptian table tennis star moved up five places to secure the 17th spot in the ITTF Ranking, as announced on Tuesday, August 6, during Week 32 of 2024.
This shift has placed Assar at the pinnacle of African table tennis, surpassing Quadri Aruna, who now occupies the 20th place.
Despite a disappointing 4-1 loss to Sweden’s Truls Moregard in the Men’s Singles quarterfinal, Assar has set a new African record by becoming the first from the continent to reach consecutive quarterfinals in the Olympics, matching Nigeria’s Aruna’s feat from Rio 2016 at Tokyo 2020.
Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw, despite an early exit, climbed six places to 83rd. Olajide Omotayo, the 2019 African Games champion, leapt 12 places to 92nd, becoming the second-best mover in Africa.
Nigeria-born Saheed Idowu, representing Congo Brazzaville, lost a thrilling 4-3 match to Sweden’s Anton Kallberg but won the hearts of many, moving up 16 places to the 100th spot.
Egypt’s Dina Meshref continues to dominate the African rankings, ascending two places to 24th, while Hana Goda also made gains, moving up to 31st. Nigeria’s Offiong Edem re-entered the top 100, climbing 14 places to 97th.
The retired Cameroonian star Sarah Hanffou concluded her career ranked 109th, and Nigeria’s Fatimo Bello made a significant jump of 26 places to 118th in the latest rankings.
These movements reflect the dynamic and competitive nature of African table tennis, showcasing the talent and resilience of its players on the global stage.
