The national basketball team players have expressed shock and great disappointment over the largesse President Muhammadu Buhari gave national athletes last Thursday in Abuja. One of the players, who spoke with The PUNCH on Monday on condition of anonymity, said the players had discussed at length and concluded that the N600,000 the President gave them for winning the 2015 Africa Nations Cup would do quite a lot of harm to their future aspirations.

He said, “Do you know that it’s less than $2,000 at the current market value? Is that what you are giving to NBA players for winning a competition for the first time in the history of Nigeria? If Senegal, whose women’s team have won the African cup several times, could still give blocks of flats to their players, what then are we saying when we give such an amount to our players?

“We would have preferred to be honoured in other ways like getting the least of the national honours or a postage stamp with our photo. That would have been better than for us to get half of what young footballers from age grade competitions, who should have been given scholarships, got.”

The basketballer complained that those who advised the President were responsible for the poor state of sports in Nigeria as they always gave too much preference to footballers.

“We got $100 as camp allowance and $500 as bonus for winning the African cup whereas the Eagles got $10,000 for winning a qualifying match to a tournament. What we achieved was not just winning the cup but also getting an Olympic ticket – the only ticket for Africa. It’s not fair.

“We have been talking to other players to join us for the Olympics but how do we now market the team to them? Is it by telling them that no government official will ever visit their camp? The CHAN Eagles have been visited by the sports minister but we all know that CHAN is not the same as the Africa Cup of Nations. Nobody bothered to visit us. We don’t need $2,000 because it can’t buy first class tickets; we want to be honoured properly. How can I leave New York for Abuja for a ceremony that gives me less than $2,000?”

Meanwhile, in the USA, 25 of the nation’s top women’s basketball players have been named as finalists for the 2016 US Olympic Women’s Basketball Team. The 25 finalists selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee include the Ogwumike sisters – Chiney and Nnemkadi. The final 12-member US Olympic Team will be selected from this group later this year

hob:
They should manage it


Times r hard

UrennaNkoli:
Too bad

blazetitov:
Hmmm. The athlete has a huge point. But they should see this as call to serve their fatherland. .

MadCow1:
Make dem getaway

hob:
They should manage it


Times r hard

robosky02:



“We got $100 as camp allowance and $500 as bonus for winning the African cup whereas the Eagles got $10,000 for winning a qualifying match to a tournament. What we achieved was not just winning the cup but also getting an Olympic ticket – the only ticket for Africa. It’s not fair