Sports
D’Tigers Lose To Cote d’Ivoire, Fail To Gain Automatic Afrobasket Quarter-Final Ticket
D’Tigers yesterday lost 68-77 to group leaders Cote d’Ivoire to finish second and fail to secure Group C’s automatic quarter-final ticket at the ongoing 2021 FIBA AfroBasket in Rwanda.
They however have a second chance of qualification for the quarter-finals, with their final group position earning them a quarter-final qualifying fixture tomorrow
In their final group phase match, played at the City Arena in Kigali, the Nigerian senior men’s national team failed to raise their game and lost in three of the fixture’s four quarters.
With Cote d’Ivoire having won their first two games, just like Nigeria, and holding on tight to the group’s top spot, D’Tigers were aware only a win was needed.
It would earn them top-place finish and an automatic qualification to the quarter-finals which will begin on Wednesday.
D’Tigers defeated the Ivorians 83-66 on September 6 of 2019 when they last met, in the classification round of the FIBA World Cup, but this counted for nothing yesterday.
With Nigeria now parading a different set of players in Kigali, and not even the team which impressed at the Tokyo Olympics, D’Tigers have been largely unimpressive.
They lost the first quarter 11-20, won the second 23-19, and then failed to sustain the momentum by losing the last two quarters 13-15 and 21-23.
Benjamin Emelogu was again the team’s top performer, with 13 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Ikenna Ndugba also had six assists and two steals.
Tidesports souce reports that, D’Tigers had earlier beaten Mali 81-73 and Kenya 71-55, and they have now finished second in their group with five points from three matches.
Earlier in the day at the same venue, Kenya had beaten Mali 72-66 to finish third in the group.
It was reported that Cote d’Ivoire advances to the quarter-finals automatically, while group runners-up Nigeria will face Group D’s third-placed team which could be Uganda.
Group D’s second-placed side, South Sudan is already ahead of Uganda in their final group phase game.
If they hold on to second-place, they will then face Kenya in the final quarter-final qualifier tomorrow.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor