Commonwealth Games: Nigeria to face Australia, New Zealand, Canada
N@shagcy
igeria has been grouped alongside Australia, New Zealand and Canada in the basketball event of the XXI Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast 2018.
Despite being ranked number 1 in Africa and 32nd in the world, Nigeria is still the lowest ranking team in their group.
Host Australia who finished 4th at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is ranked 10th in the world.
Set to make their debut at the Commonwealth, Canada is ranked 25th in the world and have participated in 9 Olympic games and won a silver medal at the 1936 Games in Berlin.
New Zealand will be taking part in their 21st Commonwealth Games, having competed at every game since 1930.
According to the fixtures released by the organisers yesterday, D’Tigers will start their campaign against New Zealand on April 6, 2018 before facing Canada, a day later, while they play their last group game against hosts Australia on April 10, 2018.
Reacting to the draws, Vice President of the NBBF, Babatunde Ogunade, who described the pairing as a ‘Group of death’, said the team’s performance will be hinged on the preparation for the games and the decision of the players to step up and prove a point.
“We want to use it as preparation for the World cup qualifier in which case we bring in foreign based players to join their home grown counterparts for a longer period, get more practice and bonding time for the team.
“We will use the opportunity of the Commonwealth camping to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers of both windows.”
The camping has since opened on Friday, 5th of January, 2018 in Lagos.