FIBA World Cup: D’ Tigers battle Russia, Brazil for wild card

With just two days to the announcement of the four successful bid for the wild cards for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Nigerian basketball family are pregnant with expectations as the Central Board of the world body meets in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday.
The Nigeria Basketball Federation along with 15 other federations met the October 30, 2013 deadline for submission of bids for the wild cards for their national teams and the NBBF President, Tijjani Umar, said that the federation expects to be among the successful bids.
Umar stressed that Nigeria’s basketball would be greatly honoured to be the first African side to bag a wild card for the World Cup, following the country’s formidable team’s failure to qualify directly at the 2013 Afrobasket held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Umar argued that the national male team failed in Abidjan “largely due to a depleted roster caused by major injuries and the players are itching to redeem the team’s profile.”
Still advancing reasons why Nigeria should get a wild card for the World Cup, the NBBF president said: “Our team has a pool of sustainable talent in some of the best basketball leagues around the world that can perform and compete against the best at the highest levels of the game like the Olympics and the FIBA Basketball World Cup.”
Umar added that the country’s best players have committed to play in the FIBA Basketball World Cup if the bid is successful.
Asked how competitive he expects the Nigerian team to be and whether he is confident the team will feature all its leading/best players, Umar retorted: “If given a wild card, our team will present its best-ever roster for maximum impact and our team captain has written a commitment letter on behalf of his colleagues which is enclosed in our bid document.”
The countries jostling for the four available wild cards alongside Nigeria, ranked 18 in the world, are Bosnia-Herzegovina (57), Brazil (10), Canada (25), China (12), Finland (39), Germany (14), Greece (5), Israel (37), Italy (21), Poland (40), Qatar (42), Russia (6), Turkey (7) and Venezuela (28).