Head coach of Nigeria’s female basketball national team, D’Tigress, Rena Wakama, has named the squad that will be defending the colours of the country at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Forward Amy Okonkwo, who has been an inspiration to the team after claiming MVP honours at the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2023 and impressed in a big way at the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Antwerp, will be spearheading the squad to the Olympics.
D’Tigress received a huge boost in the backcourt with the return of Ezinne Kalu, another class act who has already delivered at the biggest events, including Tokyo 2020 and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2018. The playmaker will reassume her position as a leader in the absence of team captain Sarah Ogoke, who won’t be at the tournament for personal reasons.
Ezinne Kalu returned to the team after missing the trip to Kigali last year.
It’s not beyond possibility, and perhaps the biggest hope is that the return of Kalu as court general after three years away from national team duties can give the African champions a new base to build their campaign on.
Alongside her will be Elizabeth Balogun and Promise Amukamara, who are both capable of putting up numbers in terms of scoring and, in the case of the latter, dishing out dimes.
Also, 24-year-old, 6’4-foot-tall centre Lauren Ebo, who was part of the Olympic Games qualifiers in Belgium in February, is heading to the Olympic Games with D’Tigress.
Nicole Enabosi, Murjanatu Musa, Ifunaya Okoro, Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpannah, Blessing Ejiofor, Olaoluwatomi Taiwo, and Adebola Adeyeye complete the 12-woman squad.
Meanwhile, three players who were part of the success story in Kigali, Rwanda, did not make the cut. They are Adenike Olawuyi, Alimat Abiola, and Sarah Ogoke.
The team arrived in Lille, France, on Monday, for their last test game ahead of the Paris Olympic Games, which begin Friday.
D’Tigress had been preparing in Germany, where they played two warm-up games against Germany before travelling to Belgrade to face Serbia.
They lost both games, 77-63 to Germany and 70-62 to Serbia.
On Wednesday (today), D’Tigress will take on Japan in another friendly game in Lille, France.
