18th September, 2012
Captain of Tunisian national basketball team, Amine Rzig, has said that they are not afraid of playing their Nigerian counterparts, D’Tigers at the 2013 Afrobasket scheduled for Ivory Coast.
Tunisia suffered a narrow defeat to Nigeria in their opening match at the 2012 Olympics in London despite being the current African champions after they won the last edition of Afrobasket in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
While speaking on their chances of defending their title in Ivory Coast, Rzig said: “We are still the champions and we are going to Abidjan to keep our title, no matter how well Nigeria may be playing. We just want to retain our crown.”
The physical education teacher, who is playing in Egypt for El Ahly, further said: “We could have done better against Nigeria at the Olympics, but because we got focused for only 17 minutes into the game, while Nigeria’s psychological approach to the game really helped them.”
The Ivory Coast’s tourney will be highly contested for as it will serve as Africa’s qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. It will take place in August-September 2013 in Abidjan with 16 participant teams.
By Bamidele Oluwasugba