Nigeria became the 13th national team to qualify for
AfroBasket 2015 following a 63-50 second-leg win over Burkina Faso on Wednesday
at the National Stadium in Lagos, FIBA.com reports.
D’Tigers, who beat the Burkinabe side 87-64 last week in
Ouagadougou, will appear in Africa’s most prestigious competition for the
eleventh consecutive time.
The other teams that have qualified are Angola, Tunisia,
Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique,
Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The AfroBasket will take place in Tunisia form August 19 to
30.
As a result of the win over Burkina Faso, the Nigerians also
secured qualification for this year’s All-Africa Games in the Republic of
Congo.
Despite finishing seventh at AfroBasket 2013 in Abidjan,
Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria are now considered among a number of frontrunners to
battle for a place at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Only the winners of AfroBasket will secure a direct
qualification for the Olympics, while the second- and third-place teams will
have a second opportunity by playing at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Burkina Faso captain Moussa Ouattara said his young team
needed improvement before they can aspire to do bigger things.
“We lacked confidence at the start of the game. The team is
young and playing in this atmosphere has allowed Nigeria to settle into the
game. We are a young team and we need continuity to improve,” Ouattara said.
Meanwhile, seven countries, namely South Africa, Algeria,
Central African Republic, Congo, Guinea, Rwanda and Senegal have bid for three
wild cards which will be handed out by FIBA Africa.
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