The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) said that it had concluded plans to ensure a successful outing for the D’Tigress at the Afro Basket Women Championship in Maputo, Mozambique. The NBBF said this in a statement signed by its Media Officer, Patrick Omorodion.

It said that the team would camp in Abuja from Aug. 12 to Aug. 25 as part of the preparation.

According the federation, the camp will consist of home-based and foreign-based players.

It said that it would carry out first selection of players after the camping.

The News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that the home-based players are: Nkechi Akashili, Magdalene Ukato, Amaka Nwakamma, Atosu Upe, Grace Okonkwo, Evelyn Akhator, Nkem Akarawe and Nkoyo George.

Others are: Theresa Samuel, Lillian Okwadi, Nana Sule, Regina Lornumbe, Lina Ubol Dong, Funmi Ojelabi and Chioma Udeaja.

The shortlisted players are from seven clubs in the Zenith Bank Women League namely: First Deepwater, Dolphins, First Bank, Sunshine Angels, FCT Angels, Plateau Rocks and Nigeria Customs.

“The team will be play three friendly matches in Lagos from Aug. 27 to Aug. 31 before departing for a training tour of some African and European countries.

“The tour is expected to run from Sept. 3 to Sept. 17,” NBBF said.

NAN reports that the Afro Basket Women championship will hold from Sept. 20 to Sept. 29 with 11 countries participating.

The participating teams will be divided into two groups.

Nigeria’s D’Tigress will play in Group B alongside Angola, Mali, Cape Verde, Cameroon and Kenya.

The Afro Basket Women Championship will also serve as a qualifier for the 2014 FIBA World Championship billed to hold in Turkey. Two countries are expected to qualify to represent Africa at the global championship.

The Nigerian team will be coached by Scott Nnaji alongside Lateef Erinfolami, Aderemi Adewumni and Emmanuel Odah.

The quartet will aim at repeating what Nigeria did in the 2003 and 2005 editions of the championship which recorded the country’s best performances.

…Investigates match-fixing allegation in Dstv League

Following allegations that some clubs in the Atlantic Conference of the Dstv Basketball League have conspired to lose their matches deliberately, the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF has opened an investigation of the alleged match-fixing.

Specifically, the federation is following leads provided in official reports of the officiating officials for the matches under investigation following open finger-pointing that some teams and their officials conspired and colluded to lose their matches at a critical period in the regular season to confer advantage to certain teams while putting other teams at a disadvantage.

The Federation’s Technical Director, Muktar Khaled confirmed that at the end of   the   investigation, appropriate sanctions would be applied where guilt is proved during the season or thereafter to serve as deterrent to other clubs who may want to do same in future.

He warned teams and officiating officials that the federation will not tolerate any form of fraudulent practices detrimental to fairplay and the good name of the game which could also bring the sport into disrepute.