₦airaland Forum

We should take a look at these two ladies.

1. Yvonne Uju Ejim. ( Canadian -Nigerian ). She is a very good player. She has not played for Canada in a serious competition. She is eligible to play for Nigeria if the NBBF approaches her. Yes, she has played for Canada at the Pan American Games and Olympic qualifiers but she has not really played serious competitions for Canada.

2. Anastasilia Olain Kosu ( Russian -Nigerian). She is in the WNBA. She has not played for Russia at senior level. She is open for grabs by the NBBF. The earlier we approach her, the better. Her father played in spain as a basketball professional player. She will be a good addition to D'tigress.

Danielnino00:
For the third time, FIBA has rejected Nneka Ogwumike’s application to represent D’Tigress.

The Los Angeles Sparks forward had applied to play for Nigeria at the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Ogwumike had previously sought a nationality switch in 2020 and again in 2024, but both attempts were denied.

#NnekaOgwumike #FIBA #fibawomensworldcup


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Sad for her..
I hope the NBBF would be able to convince the very good American-Nigerians to suit up for the GWG, before they become too involved with TEAM USA.

Consequently, aside from injury or some other personal tragedy, if the likes of Iriafen and others decline invitations to the March WCQ, then they should be excluded from consideration for the World Cup..

Rena Wakama will be a coach at Unrivalled 😀

BascoVanVeli:
Rena Wakama will be a coach at Unrivalled 😀

Very fitting position for a coach that has no rival 😁

Apparently, we have a friendly today(Dtigress)...game starts in 3 minutes...

Seems, Pallas, Nike, Sarah are the faces i know here...not seen most of theses faces before.. Nicole is also there...

Game info...

You can watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/yq4ZCAYlSvg?si=kpOrzmMjyWMUKdkc

carbonado:
Game info...

It’s was a narrow 77-76 loss to Turkey

PDPGuy:
It’s was a narrow 77-76 loss to Turkey

...which should not have happened, we are 8th in the world and they are 16th in the world. Do you understand how difficult it is for an African team to climb that high, I have a lot to say, however, i will hold my peace.. majorly because, it is a friendly....We might go down in ranking a little for this.

carbonado:
...which should not have happened, we are 8th in the world and they are 16th in the world. Do you understand how difficult it is for an African team to climb that high, I have a lot to say, however, i will hold my peace.. majorly because, it is a friendly....We might go down in ranking a little for this.

I read that our traditional starting 5 didn’t feature in the game, hence the loss.
But that raises another issue on its own: must we have ALL our star present before beating even 20-24th ranked teams?

I watched the game so I think I am qualified to comment. First, we had no business having the game that close judging by the roster we went with. Only 3 from our last Afrobasket roster participated and all of them are bench players (Nicole, Ogoke and Pallas). None of the girls who featured are starters for our team, None.

The game was somewhat of a tryout for Coach Rena to access new players and how they fit into her future plans. Despite all this we led for the most part of the game and only lost at the final possession to a Turkish team with players with WNBA experience and some of whom play for the best clubs in turkey. Not a bad outing in my opinion.

Are we not the ones clamouring for new players to be introduced into the squad? It is a friendly game to assess new players that might make it into the main squad. Does someone have a full list of the players that played against Turkey yesterday? I want to check something. We need like three new gifted players to beef up D'tigress Squad. Coach Rena might be looking for fresh players who can give the regular players a serious fight for shirts. We need lots of friendly games to unearth these fresh and gifted players. Cheers.

carbonado:
Apparently, we have a friendly today(Dtigress)...game starts in 3 minutes...

Yet with little to no publicity, this is bad from the federation.... Finding out after the game is done is mindbogglingly coupled with the match itself not been listed on major site ...

PDPGuy:
I read that our traditional starting 5 didn’t feature in the game, hence the loss.
But that raises another issue on its own: must we have ALL our star present before beating even 20-24th ranked teams?

......They do not have to be present, we should have won this particular game to be honest, i will not like to call names because it is a friendly.....If you watched the game you would understand what i mean...Maybe i like winning a little too much, either friendly or FIBA organized game, Win must drop, i am a little competitive...

lovewins:
I watched the game so I think I am qualified to comment. First, we had no business having the game that close judging by the roster we went with. Only 3 from our last Afrobasket roster participated and all of them are bench players (Nicole, Ogoke and Pallas). None of the girls who featured are starters for our team, None.

The game was somewhat of a tryout for Coach Rena to access new players and how they fit into her future plans. Despite all this we led for the most part of the game and only lost at the final possession to a Turkish team with players with WNBA experience and some of whom play for the best clubs in turkey. Not a bad outing in my opinion.

....We had no business losing that game....despite the roaster, i will leave it at that...also, they(Turkiye) ranking is 18th for a reason despite they are an European side....If they were an African side, their ranking will be maybe around 30 something....we are 8th in the world, if were were to be an European team, we would probably be around the 5th in the world...As regards Wnba experience, note that, there are also African teams with Wnba experience, i.e Sudan, Mali..etc....they still cant touch us....well, it is a friendly...

MSGAMBLE9:
Yet with little to no publicity, this is bad from the federation.... Finding out after the game is done is mindbogglingly coupled with the match itself not been listed on major site ...

...i basically just stumbled on it 5 minutes or there about to the game...

carbonado:
......They do not have to be present, we should have won this particular game to be honest, i will not like to call names because it is a friendly.....If you watched the game you would understand what i mean...Maybe i like winning a little too much, either friendly or FIBA organized game, Win must drop, i am a little competitive...

Yes, we should have won if we didn’t have a horrible 3rd quarter. But, overall, some of the new additions to the team gave a good account of themselves; especially Grace Efosa (guard) and Rita Igbokwe who impressed

carbonado:
...i basically just stumbled on it 5 minutes or there about to the game...

Let us just hope there is no problem between the regular players and the NBBF over payments of allowances and the cash the FG promised the girls sometimes this year. I hope there is no silent war simmering between the girls and NBBF. We don't want sudden withdrawals and boycott threats over unpaid monies. Cheers.

It appears there's another friendly today. Don't have the details yet, but it's probably Turkey again.

Redman44:
Let us just hope there is no problem between the regular players and the NBBF over payments of allowances and the cash the FG promised the girls sometimes this year. I hope there is no silent war simmering between the girls and NBBF. We don't want sudden withdrawals and boycott threats over unpaid monies. Cheers.

...Valid point

lovewins:
It appears there's another friendly today. Don't have the details yet, but it's probably Turkey again.

...na wa.

Amy Okonkwo joined the girls and practiced with them today.

Other players in camp include

Nicole Eneabosi
Sarah Ogoke
Kunaiyi Pallas
Olawuyi Adenike
Chukwu Fransisca
Michelle Onyiah
Ademusayo Anu Mercy
Grace Efosa
Rita Igbokwe
Wandoo Hembam (from the last u20 team)

Learned that the game today was vs Türkiye, and was a closed scrimmage….

D'tigress vs Turkiye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa7kyd0oI88?si=8INlmHH4JxEDPh93

Hate to be the bearer of not so good news, but Kiki Iriafen just got named in the team USA basketball camp for December.

Never in my wildest thoughts did I envisage this. On a practical level this still doesn't make sense for her as she's very unlikely to make the team. But that's where we are.

I guess congratulations to her and better luck next time Nigeria.

lovewins:
Hate to be the bearer of not so good news, but Kiki Iriafen just got named in the team USA basketball camp for December.

Never in my wildest thoughts did I envisage this. On a practical level this still doesn't make sense for her as she's very unlikely to make the team. But that's where we are.

I guess congratulations to her and better luck next time Nigeria.

...U.S.A just making sure potential power houses do not stand...it depends on what Kiki wants to do.....However, i do not trust NBBF for getting in contact with her to not honor the U.S....with Nigeria, she would play every major competition, with the U.S, she probably play just one major tournament, and that is it...time would tell....

carbonado:
...U.S.A just making sure potential power houses do not stand...it depends on what Kiki wants to do.....However, i do not trust NBBF for getting in contact with her to not honor the U.S....with Nigeria, she would play every major competition, with the U.S, she probably play just one major tournament, and that is it...time would tell....

She's unlikely to even make roster at all with the USA. I sincerely do not see it happening. As talented as Arike is, she's yet to make a US roster at the guard position which is even a lot more easier in my opinion to make compared to being a post player. I can easily list 10 post players who are ahead of the pecking order over Kiki.

A'ja, Phee, Stewie, Griner, Alyssa, Brink, Reese, Shakira, Bri Jones, Boston. These are just off the top of my head and doesn't include college prospects like Betta who will just the pack soon.

lovewins:
She's unlikely to even make roster at all with the USA. I sincerely do not see it happening. As talented as Arike is, she's yet to make a US roster at the guard position which is even a lot more easier in my opinion to make compared to being a post player. I can easily list 10 post players who are ahead of the pecking order over Kiki.

A'ja, Phee, Stewie, Griner, Alyssa, Brink, Reese, Shakira, Bri Jones, Boston. These are just off the top of my head and doesn't include college prospects like Betta who will just the pack soon.

...Exactly, she do just be at training camps at intervals, but never making the final cut....let us wait and see the decision she makes.

The D'Tigers begin their quest for a world cup qualification slot today at 5pm WAT. They play Tunisia in their first game today.

lovewins:
The D'Tigers begin their quest for a world cup qualification slot today at 5pm WAT. They play Tunisia in their first game today.

...wish them all the best, Nigeria has the potential to be one of the strongest Men's team in the world, however, the N.F.F keeps happening to them, hopefully , they get it right this time.

carbonado:
...wish them all the best, Nigeria has the potential to be one of the strongest Men's team in the world, however, the N.F.F keeps happening to them, hopefully , they get it right this time.

..you can watch the game on Sportytv on youtube..