Sports
London 2012: Nigeria’s D’Tigers’ Overcome Tunisia
Nigeria’s 60-56 win over Tunisia yesterday in the men’s basketball competition of the 2012 Olympic Games was against many odds, a cross-section of the match participants have said.
Officials and players of both teams admitted, in a post match interview with Tidesports source, that Nigeria’s victory was a surprise.
Tunisia’s Makram Ben-Romdhane said that in spite of their preparation for the match, things failed to work out well for the North African side.
“We prepared for a good game, but many things didn’t work out for us, even though it’s the first time we played against Nigeria. They were a strong team.
“Although we had a strong and good defense, we always fail to finish well which affected us very well against a team we were expected to beat,’’ he told the source.
On his part, teammate Mehdi Hafsi said that his team had no excuse for not winning the game.
“I know that the 9 a.m timing for the game was not the best, but it was the same condition for both teams, and it is not an excuse.
“This was why we woke up very early at 7.10 a.m. We only need to get our rhythm. In the first half, we only scored 20 points and that was bad as we did not play well.
“We lost a lot of balls and didn’t score the easy baskets. But in the second half, we came onto the court with a different option, and we defended well and played together,” he said.
D’Tigers’ Alade Aminu, scorer of most of his team’s points in the match, said a lot of people had expected the Tunisians to beat them.
“People waited to see Tunisia dominate us in the low post, but those things motivate us the more. And that is what it was all about, about motivation,” he said.
Reflecting on the fact that Nigeria beat the Tunisians 42-39 on the rebounds counter, Aminu said it was a matter of planning well.
“We knew they were bigger than us, but that was why I was there, to bring energy to the team, battle for every rebound and get us the ball back,” he said.
Aminu, who scored 15 points and had nine rebounds during the match, said his team wanted to be remembered in the history books as winners.
“When you are at the Olympics, you will always want to be remembered as a winner, and that kept us on, and that is what we did,” he said.
D’Tigers will contend with Lithuania tomorrow in their second match at the Olympics.
The championship will run from today to October 12 at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia. On the ground for the championship are athletes from Brazil, Peru, Egypt, Cameroon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Mauritius and Rwanda. They arrived on Sunday.
Some of the other countries were expected in the Abia State capital yesterday. Speaking on the championship, yesterday, Abia State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Nwobilor Ananaba, said the chief host, Governor Alex Otti, has mobilised facilities and the personnel to ensure a successful event.
Speaking through the Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports, Raymond Chima Ukwa, said: “We have the best mats, playing mats, especially the wheelchair playing mats, which is the first of its kind in West Africa.
“If you go around, you’ll see the hall and the preparation that has been made to ensure that people have an equitable world-class playing field.” Thrilled by Governor Otti’s support for the competition, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) President, Francis Orbih, said that, besides making all the necessary arrangements that will ensure a successful hosting of the events, “we will have a Para-Badminton workshop for coaches and players.
“Nigeria is doing well, Abia is doing well, and we want to do better to improve on where we are, which is why all these have been put together by Governor Otti.”
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles began their campaign at the 24th FIFA U20 World Cup with a narrow 1–0 loss to Norway on Monday, despite creating several opportunities to level the game.
Norway took the lead in the 9th minute after being awarded a controversial penalty. The Flying Eagles pressed for an equaliser but were denied two penalty claims in the second half.
Kparobo Arierhi came close in the 47th minute when his shot drifted wide with the goalkeeper beaten, while Tahir Maigana struck the upright in the 63rd minute.
Nasiru Salihu’s rising effort in the 71st minute also went narrowly over the bar, drawing gasps from the crowd.
Seven minutes from time, Maigana again tested Norway with a long-range strike that went just wide as Nigeria continued to pile on the pressure.
Despite their dominance, the Flying Eagles could not find the breakthrough and now turn their attention to Thursday’s clash against Saudi Arabia in their second group match.
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