Deflated D’Tigers vow  to qualify for Olympics

Nigeria’s male basketball players have vowed to grab a qualification ticket to the London 2012 Olympics as they face Venezuela and Lithuania in the qualifiers billed for July 2- 8, despite their lethargic performance in build up matches leading to the Games.

The Nigerian men, who have never qualified for the Olympics, have been playing a series of friendlies ahead of the qualification tournament in Caracas, Venezuela and the four-nation tournament where they have flopped so far.

D'Tigers had lost opening game 88-76 point to Greece on Wednesday and suffered a heavy and embarrassing defeat in the hands of Brazil in San Carlos on Thursday. They lost 104-65 points.

However, forward, Ejike Ugboaja is adamant they will shock everyone in Caracas, “Yes we are ready for whatever comes in front of us. We will do our best to win as we believe we are capable of winning games.

“I won’t say anything about our opponents but we will concentrate on ourselves to produce the kind of results that will take us to the Olympics.”