After narrow losses to Chinese Taipei and Bulgaria in their second group match of the 2022 World School Basketball Championships, Nigeria will hope to return to winning ways against Turkey and Chile in their third group matches.
It was the boys from Bishop Dimieari Grammar School, Bayelsa State that first tasted defeat against the Chinese Taipei counterparts, after losing 45-35points on day two of the championships holding in the Belgrade, Serbia
In the girls category, Nigeria’s representatives,
St Jude’s Girls Secondary School, also from Bayelsa state also suffered the same fate against Bulgaria as they were beaten by the European side by 55-41 points to occupy second place in their groups.
Head coach, Tony Nelson did not make excuses for the losses while hoping that the teams will bounce back later today when they tackle Turkey and Chile in the boys and girls categories respectively.
“The girls did a very good job, it’s just that our offense was not working today. We play good defense but our big players really didn’t put in a lot of effort, so we didn’t score. We’ve learnt that we must take advantage of every offense we have and make sure we convert it to the basket, so the next game, we will come out and score.”
“I wouldn’t make excuse and say fatigue affected the team because we play every afternoon and have a lot of hours gone since our first match. I think it’s just about mindset and not enough effort from the girls,” nelson admitted.
He added: “This is a big championship and great experience for Nigeria and Bayelsa State to have been able to play in this championship and give the kids this kind of platform. You can see the gym and the facilities and teams here are champions from their respective nations. It was a great championship and I think that our boys and girls are learning a lot and improving in every match.”
The international School Sport Federation organized ‘Belgrade 2022’ World School Basketball Championships will end on September 28.
