29th August, 2013
Captain of Nigeria men’s national basketball team, D’Tigers, Olumide Oyedeji, has begged all Nigerians for forgiveness for their shocking defeat against Senegal at the ongoing 27th Afrobasket holding in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The Nigerian team, coached by Ayo Bakare, were denied a place in the semi final of the bi-ennial championship after they suffered a 63-64 defeat to Senegal, who are ranked two places behind Nigeria in the FIBA ranking, in the quarter final match played on Wednesday.
In a telephone chat on BrilaFM early today in Lagos, Oyedeji said: “I know we have let down so many of our fans back home in Nigeria. All we can say is that we are very sorry.”
The long time member of the D’Tigers added : “Our target was to win the elusive title for Nigeria but yesterday (Wednesday) was just not our day. We lost so many open shots and it caused us the match against a very tough Senegalese team.
“We are putting the loss behind us and looking ahead to our match against Cape Verde today (Thursday) for us to at least redeem the country’s image.”
The Nigeria versus Cape Verde match is one of the classification matches scheduled for today to determine teams in 5th to 8th positions.
The head coach of Cape Verde is a Nigerian Alex Nwora.
—Bamidele Olowosagba