The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare said the victory of the national senior women basketball team D’Tigress at the Afrobasketball Championship in Cameroon is a worthy Independence Day gift to the country.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress beat Mali on Sunday to emerge African Champions for the third consecutive time, affirming their position as the African queens of the court.
While hosting the team to an impressive reception inside the VIP Lounge of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Monday afternoon, the Sports Minister appreciated and congratulated them and the entire Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF)family under the leadership of Engineer Musa Kida for their feat.
“You have their story, you have their history and you have their journey so far,” Sunday Dare opened up to the gathering, ‘The journey actually took them to the Olympics. Even after the Olympics. The ladies dusted themselves up and they showed that fire in Cameroon.
“I want to congratulate them for winning the Afrobasketball trophy and that is gold, you can see the Golden Cup here for third consecutive time.
“They have shown a rare dominance, the dominance of the women basketball terrain by D’Tigress from the African continent, I can say it’s now undisputable. We have seen how they are also blending the home based players with the foreign players that is the DNA of our Sports as a country whether it is basketball or football, that blend always works for us.
“I want to thank each and every player, those that went to the Olympics, those that went to Senegal and those that went to Cameroon, that entire team has always done this country proud and I know that they have more victories ahead of them.
“I also thank them for putting Nigeria on the global map of basketball, the same goes to D’Tigers. I can now say that Nigeria is truly a basketball nation.
“We are happy that this is also a benefitting present to Mr President Muhammadu Buhari and the entire country as we are about to celebrate the 61st Independence Day Anniversary,” the Minister concluded.
