D’Tigress veteran, Ezinne Kalu has described a reception that the Nigerian women’s basketball national team received at The Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday as a ‘great honour and huge blessing’ that uplifts not only the present players but also young ones coming up.
Sports247 reports that the 33-year-old Kalu, who now plays at Zhejiang Golden Bulls of China, had a broad smile on her face after stepping out of the Villa, where Nigeria’s vice-president, Hashim Shettima announced a horde of rewards for the AfroBasket champions.
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In her immediate response, Kalu admitted that the rewards announced by Shettima were huge gifts that would inspire the players to put in more effort in their future outings for Nigeria, while also encouraging younger ones to follow suit.
Kalu, who had been in the previous winning squads of 2017, 2019 and 2021, added that she was glad being part of this year’s AfroBasket conquest that made it five straight titles for Nigeria and seven overall.
The versatile point guard stated, “It was such a great welcome from the first lady, The Presidency and all the wonderful people that were there. It’s such a huge blessing to receive this great award.”
Kalu went on to reveal the immediate and future implications of the latest victory for D’Tigress, which she described as a monumental achievement that will inspire up and coming players to aspire for greatness as well.
She posited philosophically: “It’s such a momentous time in women’s basketball and a huge reckoning not just for is but for young players who are coming up.
“We are all happy to create a motivation on the young girls of this nation with this confirmation of hope for them.
“Our success is their success, and this is our motivation for the generation behind us. We want to point to the youth, we point to Nigeria, we point to the future, and we say there’s more to come.”
Sports247 reports that the federal government gave each of the players $100,000 plus flats and Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) national award for winning a fifth straight African Women’s Senior Basketball Championship title this past Sunday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
