Coach Igor Kovasevic of Cote d’Ivoire has dubbed the Nigerian national teams and in particular D’Tigress as the NBA/WNBA teams of Africa.
The man whose team lost a quarter finals match (72-56) on Thursday to Nigeria at the ongoing 2021 Afrobasket for Women in Cameroon said the Nigerians of high standard that any opponent on the continent would like to emulate.
He said, “Nigeria is the NBA of Africa; the teams are of very high standard. We like what they are doing and how they have been able to build the teams high up so well. Their organisation is so good and we can see what they are doing.”
Kovasevic and his Ivorian ladies will continue their campaign in the classification matches holding on Friday in Yaoundé but he is proud of what his players were able to achieve.
“We lost to Nigeria and it is important to note that. Nigeria is not an easy team; I am satisfied with what we are able to do. We could have sat back there and let them blow us out with 40 points but we were able to prevent that. We played against a well organised team.
Also Read: 2021 AfroBasket: D’Tigress Overcome Ivory Coast To Qualify For Semi-finals
“My players need to be able encouraged. For them to get as high up like Nigeria or Senegal and Mali they need infrastructure. I came in from Zambia and they have better infrastructures. In Cote d’Ivoire we have a lot better players, talents abound but they have the environment to grow so big like Nigeria. These players need better environment.”
Coach Kovasevic who was alerted that countries like Nigeria has embarked on a lot of scouting over time to gather their best.
“Scouting is good and it helps but the players need good setting to do very well,” he responded.
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Well, let’s see how the measure against Senegal.