Coach of Nigeria’s senior national male basketball team, Ayo Bakare, has sounded it clear to his squad at the 2013 Afrobasket holding in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire that the country was no longer willing to play second fiddle to any team in Africa.
Bakare gave this charge to the players, captained by both Olumide Oyedeji and Ike Diogu, at the Westpoint Hotel in Abuja on the team’s arrival from the United States, shortly before they departed Abuja for Abidjan Sunday.
Bakare, who qualified the team for their first ever Olympics in 2012, charged the players to put in their best as they begin the campaign for the title they have never won in the competition’s history, against Mali on Wednesday.
The coach assured the Nigeria Basketball Federation President, Tijjani Umar, that the present bunch of players are the best the country has ever assembled and are in a good position to come out tops in the competition.
He said: “I want to say that we have played second fiddle for too long and cannot afford to continue that way.
“So we must put in our best to ensure we achieve success.
“This is the best set of players we have ever assembled and I believe we can win if we put in our best.”
Meanwhile, players of the senior male basketball team have promised to put in their best to win the Afrobasket 2013 in Abidjan, which dunked off in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday, with 16 teams in four groups.
They gave their words in a brief pre-competition tete-a-tete in Abuja with the NBBF delegation led by Umar shortly before they left for Abidjan Sunday.
Oyedeji and Diogu said they are happy with the preparation they got for the competition and promised not to fail the NBBF and Nigerians in general.
“We are happy for the preparation we got and promise to do the country proud,” said Oyedeji while Diogu said: “We are going to Abidjan to put in our best and bring the trophy back home.”
Gani Lawal was emphatic: “We are going to deliver at the championship.:
Chamberlain Oguchi averred: “We want to take over Africa.”
Nigeria is drawn in Group D alongside Cameroon, Congo and Mali. who they play first on Wednesday at 6.30pm Nigerian time.
Their second match is against Congo on Friday at 6.30pm Nigerian time while the last group match is against Cameroon on Sunday at 9pm Nigerian time.
The Sports Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, has in the meantime charged the senior men’s basketball team to the Afrobasket 2013 to be good Ambassadors of the country as they campaign for the title in Abidjan.
The minister, while assuring the players that the people and government of the federation were fully behind them in their quest to lift the basketball Nations Cup title for the first time, however, charged them to remain good Ambassadors of the country.
Malam Abdullahi gave the charge during a reception/sendforth dinner organised for the team by the NBBF in Abuja on arrival from the United States after their training tour there.
He said: “I want you to do justice to the individual talents God has endowed you with and do Nigeria proud.
“I am not telling you that you must go to Abidjan and bring the cup back home.
“Beyond winning the trophy and making Nigeria proud, I want you to use this competition to inspire the younger generation of players.”
The minister, who promised to join the team in Abidjan as the competition progresses, presented the players with their playing kits as he joined them to dance to the tunes played by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps band.
Umar thanked the minister for cutting short his trip to Moscow for the World Athletics Championships to wish the team well in Abidjan.
He said: “I want to assure you sir that this is the best assemblage of players the country has ever had and they know the enormity of the task ahead and the expectations from Nigerians.”
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