Nigeria’s D’Tigers face ejection from their hotel in Angola

By Pius Ayinor

D’Tigers may have beaten Tunisia 84-81 in their first match in Angola on Thursday as they make a real push for the 2027 FIBA World Cup ticket, but the good run can be truncated any moment from now as they face ejection from their hotel and the World Cup qualifiers.

We learnt from a sound FIBA source that D’Tigers are campaigning in Angola on credit as Nigerian officials were yet to pay the bills that give them the participation right.

“Your team is looking good, but I don’t know if their participation will be disrupted by their situation here. Nigeria has not paid for anything here, even though we understand your government officials could be in Luanda on Friday. I hope they are not ejected from their residence or even stopped from the competition,” a FIBA official said on Friday.

The National Sports Commission funds the country’s matches for the World Cups and the Olympics. The Tigers are playing in Luanda for a spot in the 2027 World Cup, billed for Qatar.

Extrasportnigeria.com learnt the National Sports Commission has yet to pay for the team’s participation fee and for their hotel accommodation. It was also gathered that the players’ tickets were yet to be fully paid for.

We could not get any confirmation from the Nigeria Basketball Federation’s secretary. Attempt to speak with the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, also failed. He did not pick up our telephone call and had yet to respond to messages sent to his authentic phone number on the matter.

D’Tigers need to win their three matches to enable them to stand a chance of qualifying for Qatar after winning just one game out of three in the first Window. A similar issue of funding forced the team to get to the last competition just before the first jump ball was taken.

The NBBF recruited a former NBA coach, David Fizdale, to get the team back on track.