While other players received MON, Ahmed Musa and Victor Osimhen were awarded OON honours, “on account of having MON earlier”.
D’Tigers aim to follow the path of D’Tigress, who reign as Africa’s women’s basketball champions.
“We applaud their patriotic dedication to the call to serve the country, which was confirmed at extremely short notice.”
The team had already announced its forfeiture of the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket qualifiers scheduled to begin in Tunisia on Friday over a lack of funds from the Bola Tinubu-led government.
It is not the first time that paucity of funds has threatened the D’Tigers’ participation in a major basketball tournament.
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D’Tigers had started their campaign in the fourth window of the qualification series in Abidjan with a loss to hosts Côte d’Ivoire.
D’Tigers recorded a 20-0 points win over Mali who failed to show up for the game.
D’Tigers won the highly entertaining encounter 81-73.
Some of the regular faces that played during the Olympics are missing on the Nigerian team, having gone back to playing the NBAs.
