Highly fatigued Nigeria’s Under-18 boys’ team, the Junior D’Tigers lost their opening match to Egypt 70-57 Wednesday night in the Afrobasket U18 competition ongoing in Pretoria, South Africa.
The young Nigerians had taken the lead winning the first quarter 17-14. Egypt took the second quarter and therefore led the match with scores at 37-32 in their favour at half time. The Junior Tigers pushed hard to reduce the gap at 52-48 at the end of the third quarter and the toll of their lack of rest took hold of them in the last quarter.
The young Tigers arrived in South Africa for the Afrobasketball competition Wednesday afternoon after the long delay in Abuja. The South African High Commission had denied them visas on their first application.
The reactions of Nigerians to the sad development and the intervention of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and FIBA changed the situation. The young players eventually left Abuja Tuesday and joined the girls early Wednesday in Pretoria where they are scheduled to play against Egypt Wednesday night.
The Nigerian girls also lost their opening game to Egypt. The boys will play their next match against Angola on Saturday.
Extrasportnigeria 
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