Sports
Commonwealth Games: D’Tigers begin medal chase with defeat to New Zealand
D’Tigers began their Commonwealth Games medal campaign with a heavy defeat to their New Zealand counterparts at the Gold Coast 2018 in Australia.
The Nigerian senior men’s basketball team, captained by Ike Diogu, were beaten 110-65 by New Zealand in the men’s preliminary round Pool A on Friday.
In spite of Azuoma Dike’s 15 points, six rebounds and one assist plus Diogu’s 12 points and 14 rebounds, D’Tigers were defeated in all four quarters.
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Thomas Abercrombie, Jordan Ngatai, Finn Delany and Robert Loe were the opponents’ top performers in the game, as their prowess downed the 2017 AfroBasket runners-up.
Nigeria will play their second game against Canada, who also lost 95-55 to hosts Australia earlier, tomorrow before they going against the hosts next Tuesday.
The top two teams from Pool A will proceed to the Semi-Finals. The bottom two teams from Pool A will play the top two teams from Pool B in the qualifying finals, according to the GC2018 website.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s best finish in the basketball event at the Commonwealth Games was a fourth-place finish at the 2006 edition.
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