Buhari, SWAN Congratulate D’Tigress, Others Over Success

President Muhammadu Buhari, has congratulated the national female basketball team, D’Tigress, for winning the 2017 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket tournament in Mali and qualifying for the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain.
The President’s congratulatory message was signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina in Abuja, last Monday.
Buhari joined other sports-loving Nigerians in saluting the heroic performance of the victorious D’Tigress over their Senegalese counterpart in the final of the 2017 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket tournament, last Sunday.
The president commended the players for displaying “uncommon strength, confidence, skill and dexterity in their victory over the defending champions.’’
He urged members of the team and their handlers to remain focused and dedicated even as they prepare for greater glory to Nigeria at the forthcoming FIBA World Cup.
President Buhari assured the team, its managers and the Nigeria Basketball Federation of his support and that of the federal government to ensure that they excel against other top competitors in Spain.
The Nigeria’s senior women basketball team, D’Tigress, last Sunday in Bamako, Mali, restored the nation’s lost glory in the Women Afrobasket having defeated defending champions, Senegal to clinch the title for the third time after 12 years.
The D’Tigress walloped their Senegalese counterparts 65-48 points to beat them a second time in the championship.
The team recorded no loss in all their games to the final in the 2017 edition after they had won it last in 2005. They first won it in 2003.
Also, the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) says the success of the national women basketball team, D’Tigress, at the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2017 in Bamako, Mali is an ample evidence of what Nigeria can achieve in the world of sports with adequate planning, proper motivation and good selection of players.
The association, in a statement last Monday by its Secretary-General, OlawaleAlabi, said both the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) should therefore improve upon the effort to ensure the team replicate the AfroBasket performance at the World Cup in 2018.
D’Tigress had brushed aside all opposition, including subduing Senegal 65-48 in the final match, to win the title for the third time.