FIBA Women’s World Cup: Dalung Applauds D’Tigress

The Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung has praised the senior women’s national basketball team, the D’Tigress for their outstanding performance at the just ended FIBA Women’s World Cup in Spain.

 

Dalung who was in Spain to cheer the players said they displayed a high sense of patriotism, determination and hard-work during the competition.

 

‘On behalf of the government of the Federal Republic  of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari, I congratulate you on your excellent outing in Spain. You have shown that you’re now a strong force in basketball not only in Africa but now globally.

 

“I want to commend the leadership of the Nigeria Basketball Federation led by Engr Musa Kida for their investment of time and resources in the team which yielded this unprecedented result in basketball. This has shown that our insistence that stakeholders be allowed to run their game was not to witch hunt anyone but to ensure that Stakeholders own their game.

 

He thanked the players and the technical crew for their dedication and resilience in the face of stiff opposition.

 

“The players and technical crew showed an unprecedented level of dedication and never say die spirit during their crucial matches against Turkey, Greece and Argentina. You have emerged the first African team to play in the World Cup quarter finals and its something you should be proud of. Your ranking has also catapulted from 34th to 8th .

 

He promised that the government of Nigeria will deploy equitable resources to women sports as a form of encouragement which is well deserved.

 

“The participation of women in sports since I became a minister has yielded more medals than their male counterparts. Government will deploy equal resources to them to ensure that their potentials are optimally tapped.

 

Nigeria narrowly  lost 73-72 against Canada on Sunday, in the 7-8 classification game.