Nigeria’s women’s senior national basketball team, the D’Tigress, will arrive Lagos, in the early hours of Monday for the next phase of their 2018 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Spain.
After weeks of training in Atlanta, USA, the team led by Hughley Otis will have their last training in the United States of America on Saturday before their departure on Sunday for Lagos.
According to the Assistant Coach of the team, Peter Ahmedu, one more player will be dropped from the 14 in camp before their departure for Lagos.
“Presently, we have 14 players including Adaora Elonu who has been drafted by Atlanta Dreams. We will reduce it to 13 players before we leave for Lagos. We will be able to drop one more player because we have three players (Uju Ugoka, Nkem Akaraiwe and Nkechi Akashili) back home for the next phase of our preparation,” stressed Ahmedu.
Commenting on life under the new coach, Peter said the team has completely settled in and are now focused on the task ahead.
Coach Ahmedu described the experience so far as wonderful as he remains optimistic that it will translate to a good outing at the world cup.
“The adjustment has been so tremendous. The players are adjusting day by day while the team chemistry has continued to improve. By the time we round off here on Saturday, we would have been able to achieve our set goal,” he noted.
Peter revealed that having spent more than two weeks with the team, the players are now on the same page with the new coach.
“Coach Otis came with different dynamics and techniques for both offence and defence which has actually helped the team. He has seen the energy and ability of the girls and we have been able to adjust,” Ahmedu revealed.
The current African Champions will start training on Tuesday at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos for the next phase of preparation for the FIBA World Cup in Spain.
