We have learnt vital lessons from 3×3 Basketball World Cup — NBBF

Nigeria’s leader of delegation to the just-concluded FIBA 3×3 World Cup in Manila, Philippines, Frank Jituboh, on Wednesday said he was satisfied with the result of Nigeria’s team to the competition.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the quartet of Kano Pillars Yahaya Abdul, Dike Azuoma, David Godwin and Lucky Subel represented Nigeria at the competition.
It was also Nigeria’s first ever outing at the World Championship level and the D’Tigers were paired against teams like Latvia, Croatia, Ukraine and Jordan.
The competition which began on June 8 and ended on June 12 with had 20 countries competing for honours.
Nigeria had qualified having emerged as Africa’s champions in the 3×3 FIBA Africa competition which was held in Bamako, Mali in 2017.
Jituboh, who is also the Chairman of Federal Capital Territory Basketball Association said: “I am very satisfied with the performance of the boys being their first time at this level”.
He added: “The experience garnered here playing against the best teams around the world will be very important going forward.”
He added that the win against Jordan who are number 16 in the latest FIBA 3×3 ranking is a great boost to the team’s morale and should have a positive effect on future FIBA rankings.
He said: “We are eagerly waiting for the revised ranking at the end of this month to see the effect of our World Cup outing.’’
“After losses to Ukraine, Croatia and Latvia at the tournament, the vital lessons have been learnt.
“I will be reporting back to the federation when we arrive on Thursday with special emphasis placed on the need to have a 3×3 league in Nigeria.
“This at the end, should help us to have a bigger pool of players for future selections.”
NAN reports that of the 20 teams that participated in the World Cup, in spite of being ranked 66th in the world, Nigeria finished in the 17th spot above Brazil who are 13th.
The team is expected to arrive in Lagos on Thursday aboard a Qatar Airways flight at 9.35 a.m. at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.