Chris Maduewesi
Member
President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation(NBBF) has blamed the country's slump in the FIBA rankings on the inactiveness of the men’s national team, D’Tigers.
D'Tigers have not been in action since 2013 when they competed at the African Basketball championship.
Nigeria is now ranked 24th in the world following a new FIBA rankings released on Monday,dropping down six places from their previous position of 18th.
D'Tigers failed to qualify for the World Championship held in Spain,and was unable to compete with the best nations in the world which further enhanced the drop.
“It is to be expected. When you remain inactive and other teams remain active, they will be ranked ahead of you. We have not been active since last year’s Afrobasket,” NBBF president Tijani Umar said.
He was however optimistic that they will bounce back from the drop,adding that they are now focused on making the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“I think it’s a challenge to say ‘you have done very well but have relaxed. Now you need to do more.’ We are back on track and by December, we will be playing our first FIBA AfroBasket qualifiers away game. It’s going to be on home-and-away basis.
“We have adopted a roadmap to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. If we make it to next year’s Afrobasket competition and end up on the podium, our ranking will be different after the Olympics.”
D'Tigers have not been in action since 2013 when they competed at the African Basketball championship.
Nigeria is now ranked 24th in the world following a new FIBA rankings released on Monday,dropping down six places from their previous position of 18th.
D'Tigers failed to qualify for the World Championship held in Spain,and was unable to compete with the best nations in the world which further enhanced the drop.
“It is to be expected. When you remain inactive and other teams remain active, they will be ranked ahead of you. We have not been active since last year’s Afrobasket,” NBBF president Tijani Umar said.
He was however optimistic that they will bounce back from the drop,adding that they are now focused on making the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“I think it’s a challenge to say ‘you have done very well but have relaxed. Now you need to do more.’ We are back on track and by December, we will be playing our first FIBA AfroBasket qualifiers away game. It’s going to be on home-and-away basis.
“We have adopted a roadmap to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. If we make it to next year’s Afrobasket competition and end up on the podium, our ranking will be different after the Olympics.”