Nigeria national women basketball team the “D’Tigress” Forward Nkem Akaraiwe told sports247.ng that the Nigerian women’s team to the just concluded FIBA 3×3 Africa Cup were unlucky to come back home empty handed blaming series of injuries to key players in the team for the their fourth place finish.
The championships had a total of 12 teams and were pooled in four different groups. Group A saw Uganda, Cape Verde and Ghana slug it out with each other. Nigeria headlined Group B and faced the likes of Benin Republic and Egypt. Group C had the likes of Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire while Group D had Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso.
To finish fourth, Nigeria played a total of five games, won three and lost two including losing the third place match 19 – 17 to Togo. Nigeria suffered her first defeat of the tournament in the semi final of the competition falling by two points to eventual first runners-up DRC by 18 – 16.
Mali defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo 19 – 13 in the final of the tournament to lift the trophy.
Meanwhile In the men’s category Nigeria finished overall third behind Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda after winning the third place beating the DRC 21 – 19 to mount the podium.
