U-16 Afrobasket: We Won’t Show Angola Respect, Onyanabo

U-16 Afrobasket: We Won’t Show Angola Respect, Onyanabo

Nigeria’s U-16 coach, Fubara Onyanabo has stated that the team will up their game when they file out against former champions Angola today at the ongoing FIBA U-16 Basketball Championship in Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde.

The junior D’Tigers bounced back from their opening day loss to three-time champions Egypt with a resounding 64-39 win against host country Cape Verde with Center, Rueben Chinyelu, posting another 20 points.

Nigeria’s next game comes up on Tuesday against former champions Angola who lost their opening game 86-61to Egypt on Monday.

Having lost their opening encounter, Angola will come all out against the junior D’Tigers seeking a win but coach of the team, Onyanabo has promised that his boys will not give any respect to the Central Africans.

“We will approach the game against Angola like we did against Cape Verde. In the court we’re not going to respect anybody, we are all here to ball. On Tuesday you’ll see a different Nigerian team against Angola.

“As you are aware for some editions now, Nigeria have not participated, for our government and Nestle Milo to sponsor this trip, we just want to make them and every other Nigerian proud,” he said.

Speaking ahead of the game, top scorer for Nigeria against Cape Verde, Rueben Chinyelu has stated that they are going to take the game as serious as they have taken the previous ones.

“We are going to take the game very serious, we’ll play for our country Nigeria making sure we keep the flag flying, we also want to play for our families and for every one supporting us. We just want to make our country proud,” he said.

Nestlé Milo is the official sponsor of the Nigerian U-16 team to the Afrobasket in Cape Verde.

The winner and runners-up of the tournament will earn the right to represent Africa at next year’s FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup in Sofia Bulgaria.

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