Nigeria’s female basketball national team, D’Tigress have climbed 15 spots up to 19th position in the world, according to the latest rankings released on Friday.
Information gathered by sports247.ng reveal that the rankings by world basketball governing body, FIBA, saw Nigeria’s status escalate on the global level for the ladies, following an unprecedented quarter-final finish for D’Tigress at the recent Women’s World Cup in Tenrife, Spain.
Heading to Tenerife, the Nigerian team were ranked the lowest at 34th, but D’Tigress are now the second best team in Africa, replacing Angola.
Although the Nigerian ladies could not win two classification matches after losing to USA in the quarter-finals, their surge had been deemed good enough in the eye of FIBA, which has now rated D’Tigress 19th.
At the FIBA WWC, Nigeria became the first African team to win more than a game in a single World Cup tournament and then advance to the quarter finals of the competition.
In Tenerife, the team coach by Otis Hughley recorded three wins in a row – against Turkey, Argentina and Greece – before losing to World number one and eventual winners, USA in the quarter finals.
In reaction to the new development, Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) president, Ahmed Musa-Kida expressed delight at the surge and put it down to hard work by officials in the body.
Kida said: “I can tell you hard work saw a better prepared and motivated D’Tigress take on the world in a stunning fashion and our effort in the NBBF has finally been recognised.
“After the feat of D’Tigress in 2017, when they emerged as African champions before shocking the world at the 2018 FIBA World Cup, it was just a matter of time before the team took its pride of place.”
