By Babatunde Ogunrinde
NIGERIA’s senior men’s basketball team, D’ Tigers, has dropped four places in the latest FIBA ranking released on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that D’Tigers slumped from 39th to 42nd position in the world ranking.
The former African champions tallied 299.7 points during the month under review to occupy sixth position on the continent.
South Sudan hopped from 34th to 23rd in the FIBA World Ranking to become the top-ranked African team, overtaking Cote d’Ivoire. Angola, Tunisia, and Egypt complete the top five teams in Africa.
Olympic champions, U.S. protected their lead at the top, while Serbia jumped up two spots to get to the second spot with a total of 758.9 points, overtaking Germany.
Meanwhile, basketball enthusiasts have called for urgent action for the team to get back to reckoning and get back to position in the world ranking.
Femi Olatubosun, a fan, said that D`Tigers had completely fallen out of contention and were not the competitive team that we knew them to be a few years back.
“Sadly, D’Tigers has continued to drop in the scheme of things, this is due to lack of competition and absence from major championships.
“I urge the federation to look critically at this and organise some friendly games for the team before the qualifiers for the Africa Cup begin,” he said.
Anthony Bernard told NAN that the federation has suddenly neglected the team who was a powerhouse of African basketball.
“D’Tigers have dropped in the world rankings because there is neglect from the federation, the team needs to get back and challenge for titles.
“The federation should organise friendly matches so that they can gather enough points and regain their top spot in Africa and in the world,” he said.
NAN reports that D’Tigers last occupied the top African team before 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and remain the only African team to beat the U.S. national team. (NAN)
