Nigeria’s female basketball national team, D’Tigress’ coach, Rena Wakama has downplayed Sunday’s loss to France, as she described it as a learning point and declared that her players will continue to grow towards their ultimate target.
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Sports247 reports that, rather than allow her side’s 93-86 defeat at the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualification tournament in Lyon, France bother her, Wakama projected into the bigger picture ahead of the team.
That is basically due to the fact that D’Tigress qualified automatically for the FIBA World Cup by virtue of their triumphant outing last year at the African Women’s Senior Basketball Championship (Afrobasket 2025) in Cote d’Ivoire.
It was their fifth straight conquest of the championship and seventh overall, which makes D’Tigress a top notch to reckon with in Africa; and they were on Monday presented with presidential rewards for that feat.
During the historic presentation in Lyon, which was led by the National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, Wakama pledged that D’Tigress will confirm their pedigree as FIBA World Cup and Olympic Games campaigners.
The tactician inferred as much when she gave encomiums to her players and brushed aside effects of Sunday’s loss to the host nation at the ongoing tournament, where D’Tigress will play Germany in their last group match this Tuesday.
Heading into that encounter with the world’s 12th-ranked squad, Wakama noted that her 8th-rated team is only at this competition as a build-up towards the World Cup itself, and the award-winning tactician picked positives from all lessons learnt so far.
“I am super proud of my team. I have a great team and I can assure you that we will continue to grow and continue to learn as we aim towards our ultimate target. If no one believes us, I believe in us.
“That is one belief we all have in the locker room. So, once again, credit to the team. If you want to beat the top teams, you have to be able to capitalise on games like this,” Wakama declared emphatically.
Sports247 gathered further that D’Tigress pulled off the best points difference among all the teams that have lost to France at this competition – Philippines 49-point margin, Colombia 40-point, Germany 22-point and Nigeria 7-point margin.
Those statistics have raised hope for Nigeria’s victory over Germany on Tuesday, plus the high possibility that D’Tigress could still qualify for the next round as second placed in their group.
