Paris 2024: D’Tigress Still In The Hunt Despite Loss, Medal Chase Begins In Athletics

Nigeria’s Women Basketball Team, D’Tigress remain in the 2nd position in Group B despite a 75- 54 loss to France in Lille on Thursday.

The hosts employed a combination of excellent perimeter shooting and effective defense to frustrate the Nigerians who showed occasional flashes of their abilities in patches during the high energy encounter.

Maria Johannes led the French charge with 15 points, all 3’s, while Gabby Williams added 14. Once again, the energetic Ezinne Kalu top scored with 18 points for Nigeria while Murjanatu Musa continued her superb form as a starter this time with a double double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

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Up next for Rena Wakama ‘s team are Canada, who have lost both their group games so far. A win against the North Americans surely puts D’Tigress through to the quarterfinals. The team can still qualify with a loss, provided France beat Australia with a points margin higher than the Nigerian team’s deficit in the final group game.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Team Nigeria made a rare appearance in the pool. British Based Tobi Sijuade came 3rd in Heat 5 of the Men’s 50 metres Freestyle event. However his time of 23.24 seconds was not good enough to earn him a spot in the 16 man Semi Final Pool.

The Blue Ribbon Sport at most Olympics, Athletics, starts today at the Stade De France in Paris with Team Nigeria taking part in 5 events.

Shot Putter Chukwuebuka Enechukwu will attempt to better the qualifying mark of 21.35 metres to pick a spot in the 12 man final roster. Ranked 8th in the World, the big guy, affectionately called CC, made the finals at the last Olympics in Tokyo but could only manage a 12th place finish.

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Also in action today will be the Nigerian 4 by 400 metres Mixed Relay Team, looking to book a spot in the Semi Finals.

Others are Temitope Adeshina in Women’s High Jump, the pair of Chioma Onyekwere and Obiageri Amaechi in Women’s Discus while sprinters Rosemary Chukwuma and Tima Godbless will contest in Round 1 of the 100 metres.

For fans of Track and Field, the Games have just begun….

By Deji Omotoyinbo, in Paris