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Nigeria’s Under-18 boys’ basketball team, the Junior D’Tigers, lost their opening match to Egypt by 70-57 on Wednesday night in the ongoing Afrobasket U18 competition in Pretoria, South Africa.
The young Nigerians had taken the lead, winning the first quarter 17-14.
Egypt took the second quarter and, therefore, led the match with scores 37-32 in their favour at halftime.
Nigeria’s Junior Tigers pushed hard to reduce the gap to 52-48 at the end of the third quarter and the toll of their lack of rest took hold of them in the last quarter.
The young Tigers arrived in South Africa for the Afrobasketball competition Wednesday morning after the long delay in Abuja as they were denied visas by the South African High Commission.
With the intervention of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the International Basketball Federation, the boys were later granted visas.
This act had drawn several reactions from concerned Nigerians across social media.
The young players eventually left Abuja on Tuesday and joined the girls early Wednesday in Pretoria where they were scheduled to play against Egypt Wednesday night.
The Nigerian girls also lost their opening game to Egypt.
The boys will play their next match against Angola on Saturday, September 7, 2024.
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