BY JACOB AJOM
Nigeria will be opening  her account in the Afrobasket 2011 championship with a match against West African rivals, Mali in Antananarivo, Madagascar today.

According to the fixtures made available to Sports Vanguard, the Nigerian team, De Tigers who are in Group A, will clash against Mozambique on Friday, while the last group match against host country Madagascar comes up on Sunday, August 21. The Nigerian male basketball team, De Tigers, according to the coach, Ayo Bakare was confident the team would perform well at the tournament which is parading Africa’s best 16 teams.

“We are ready. We have a team made up of very dedicated and talented young men. Although we started our preparations late, we are sure we have come a long way,” Bakare said. He observed that although the team did not have big names usually associated with De Tigers, there are some very good talents among the present squad. “It is a mixture of experience and youth and I am happy with the amount of work we have been able to do.”

President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Tijani Umar who was in Lagos to see the team leave for the Southern African country said he was confident the team would improve on their performance in Libya two years ago.

“We have not slept since the Libyan tournament because we missed everything after losing just one match. We won our group matches and lost in the quarterfinal to Cameroun. That sent us out,” the NBBF boss recalled, adding that winners of the 2011 Afrobasket tournament will automatically qualify for the London 2012 Olympics, while the runners up will have an opportunity to participate in a play off that could earn them a  ticket  to the Olympics.

“We will strive to earn the ticket by doing well in Madagascar,” Umar insisted.

Nigeria center, Olumide Oyedeji said the team was united and had resolved not to let the country down.

“We are focused and are ready for all comers. We know what is expected of us and we won’t disappoint,” Oyedeji said. The 2011 Afrobasket tournament which will be held in Madagascar from 17 to 28 August in Antananarivo, Madagascar will be featuring 16 teams drawn into four groups.

Group B has Angola, Chad, Morocco and Senegal while Group C has Cote D’Ivoire, South Africa, Egypt and Cameroun. Tunisia, Togo, Central African Republic and Rwanda make up Group D.