The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has extolled the performance of Nigeria’s senior male national basketball team, D’Tigers, after losing 82-89 to Libya at the FIBA Afrobasket Qualifiers in Tunisia.

This is contained in a statement by Akeem Busari, the media coordinator of the NBBF, obtained by journalists on Saturday in Lagos.

”We applaud their patriotic dedication to the call to serve the country, which was confirmed at extremely short notice.

”in spite of the challenges and unavailability of some other players of the team, who were withdrawn by their professional teams during the period of uncertainty,” he said.

He said that the NBBF board also expresses its sincere and genuine gratitude and appreciation to the minister of sports development, John Enoh.

”The minister gave his consent for the team to participate in the all-important Afrobasket qualifiers in Tunisia.

“The NBBF also expressed its immense appreciation to its various vendors and creditors for helping to facilitate the participation of the national team in the tournament,“ he said.

He said that the federation thanked the vendors and creditors for providing all the necessary logistical support, even at short notice, in spite of the challenges facing the NBBF and the ministry of sports.

“The NBBF also expressed its confidence in the abilities of D’Tigers to come up good in subsequent matches by improving on their game.

“It enjoined all Nigerians to rally around the team as the D’Tigers continue in their quest to make Nigeria proud and to qualify for the 2025 Afrobasket championship,“ he said.

He said that the federation was working hard to ensure that all steps were put in place by the ministry and NBBF to ensure a seamless execution of the tournament.

D’Tigers will play their next group game against Uganda.

(NAN)