Nigeria, so far unbeaten in the African Basketball championship for men going on in Antananarivo, Madagascar, will today hope to stretch their clean slate when they confront Chad. After impressing in all their group matches ending up as leaders of Group-A, the Ayo Bakari tutored D’Tigers will play the Chadians today in an Eight Round Final match.
Nigeria, despite its array of basketball talents with a huge potential based abroad in top NBA and European clubs have never won this particular trophy. The ultimate quest for this tournament is the London 2012 Olympics slot reserved for the team that wins the gold at the end of the championship. Should Nigeria grab the ultimate prize-gold, she would have comfortably booked a place at next year’s Olympics. And will only have an opportunity if she ends up as the 2nd or 3rd team where the silver and bronze medalists will play in a play-off to comprise 12 teams.
Angola, which was surprisingly shocked last week by Senegal 85-78 points remain the powerhouse of African basketball with 10 of the 11 titles. They still remain one of the huddles for Nigeria to cross in this tournament.
Others are Cameroon who has also maintained a clean sheet. It is so far so good for Nigeria and Cameroon as unbeaten teams who have clinched first places in their respective groups.