D’Tigress of Nigeria have qualified for the women’s basketball event of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Nigeria booked a place after Belgium defeated Senegal on Friday at the ongoing 2024 Olympics qualification tournament in Belgium
Despite suffering a heavy 100-48 defeat to the USA on Friday, Nigeria’s national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have secured qualification
Nigeria qualified as a result of Senegal’s loss to hosts Belgium later that same evening, coupled with Nigeria’s victory over Senegal on Thursday, D’Tigress’ critical comeback victory against Senegal proved pivotal,
Coach Rena Wakama and Elizabeth Balogun addressed the team’s slow start against the USA, which led to the significant loss.
“I challenge my girls every day to play with urgency and fire; I think we lacked that from the start, and this is the wrong opponent to lack that,” Wakama said.
Despite attempts to rectify the situation in the second half, Wakama admitted that “at that point, it was too late.”
With France (hosts), the USA (world champions), Belgium, and now Nigeria already qualified, D’Tigress aim to improve on their 11th-place finish at the 2020 Olympic Games under Coach Wakama’s leadership in France.
This is the third time D’Tigress will qualify for the Olympic Games, having also competed at the Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2020 editions of the tournament.
The 2024 Olympics is billed for July 26–August 11 in Paris.
