The Nigerian ladies’s nationwide basketball staff was turned away from the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Video games, the Related Press reported on Friday.
The staff, identified colloquially as D’Tigress, had travelled over two hours from Lille, France to Paris for the procession. An nameless supply informed the AP that, upon arrival, D’Tigress had been denied entry to their boat by an official of the Nigeria Olympic Committee. The official said that there was no extra room on the boat, which Nigeria was sharing with Niger and Norway.
The staff tried to return to Lille, the place the ladies’s basketball group play video games will happen, however had been unable to make it to the departing busses. D’Tigress stayed the night time in Paris and missed their morning follow session. As Nigerian representatives haven’t commented on the state of affairs, no extra info is out there right now.
Sadly, Friday’s mishap is reflective of ongoing points plaguing Nigerian basketball. The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) have earned poor reputations lately. In preparations for these Olympics, institutional battle inside Nigerian basketball has as soon as once more begun to rear its ugly head. Queen John-Moseph, the communications supervisor of Basketball Africa League staff Rivers Hoopers, took to X (previously Twitter) to accuse the NOC and NBBF of mishandling current Olympic preparations:
Our D’Tigress deserve higher!!!
Our athletes and gamers deserve higher. We will not hold treating our personal like they do not matter.
No surprise there was little or no media consideration across the staff. What are we hiding? Media is a part of sports activities all of us rely upon one another. And even… pic.twitter.com/M6uxq9EwNP
— Queen John-Moseph (@Queenjohn4) July 23, 2024
D’Tigress performed two European friendlies earlier than arriving in France; one towards Germany in Saarbrücken, and one towards Serbia in Belgrade. John-Moseph claimed that D’Tigress weren’t offered sufficient funds (both by the NBBF or NOC) to buy a connecting flight from Saarbrücken to Berlin. The staff due to this fact needed to drive eight hours throughout Germany to Berlin with the intention to fly to Serbia. John-Moseph moreover claimed that lodging was poor through the staff’s keep in Germany.
Former NBA participant Chimezie Metu voiced his personal disdain for the federation days earlier than the opening ceremony. Metu competed for the Nigerian males’s staff within the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and has since echoed related sentiments concerning disorganization and corruption inside the NBBF. Metu claimed that through the 2020 Olympics, the NOC and NBBF had extra members dwelling within the Olympic Village than Nigeria had athletes competing within the video games. Following the boat state of affairs on Friday, he reiterated his grievances and accused the NOC and NBBF of repeatedly embarrassing Nigerian athletes:
The NOC and NBBF proceed to take each alternative to embarrass our athletes. Yearly it is one thing new, this one may take the cake. Qualify and journey all the way in which to the Olympics only for this to occur. Have some disgrace please https://t.co/mj1Z3lXRdd
— Chimezie Metu™ (@Chimezie_Metu) July 26, 2024
Failures of the Nigerian Basketball Federation price D’Tigress a spot within the FIBA World Cup two years in the past. In 2021, FIBA threatened to ban Nigeria from worldwide basketball competitors on account of inner election battle. The elections for management positions inside all Nigerian sports activities federations had been held on Sept. 30, 2021, however the NBBF did not vote amidst an ongoing energy dispute. The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports activities Improvement contacted FIBA officers, claiming that they’d assume the duties of the NBBF. FIBA disallowed the ministry from doing so, citing quite a few laws that their assumption of energy would break:
FIBA Normal Statutes Article 9.1: “Nationwide member federations should keep full management and governance of basketball of their nation, together with with out limitation management over their nationwide competitions.”
FIBA Normal Statutes Article 9.7: “Nationwide member federations shall handle their affairs independently and with no affect from third events. Specifically, they have to be certain that their officers are both elected or appointed beneath a democratic course of…”
Hoping {that a} hiatus would forestall additional injury, the Federal Authorities of Nigeria imposed their very own two-year ban on the NBBF earlier than FIBA may take motion. The federal government acquired vital pushback, reversing the ban solely six weeks later. Nonetheless, D’Tigress had already been pressured to forfeit their spot within the 2022 FIBA World Cup, which they’d earned by successful the African Championship. The African Championship runner-up, Mali, changed Nigeria within the match. The Nigerian males’s basketball staff was capable of take part within the second section of World Cup Qualifiers and was due to this fact unaffected.
The 2024 Olympics, though already proving to be a battleground between Nigerian basketball gamers and their governing establishments, will probably be a chance for D’Tigress to compete on the world stage after forfeiting their berth within the 2022 World Cup.
