Izuchukwu OkosiThe Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) on Tuesday released a 12-man roster for the third window of the FIBA African World Cup qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda between June 27 and July 5, 2022.
Nigeria teams are free again to participate in international competitions after reversal of the ban placed on national teams by the Federal Government albeit Mali has been invited to replace D’Tigress at the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Sydney, Australia in September.
The men’s team are made up of Ikenna Ndugba (Greensboro Swarm, NBA G League), Uchenna Iroegbu (Free agent), Michael Okiki (Gombe Bulls), Ben Emelogu (Rouen Metropolitan, France), Michael Oriakhi (Rivers Hoopers), Michael Gbinijie (Santa Cruz Warriors, NBA G League) and Ibe Agu (Customs, Abuja).
Other players on the list are Chimezie Metu (Sacramento Kings), Victor Koko (Rivers Hoopers), Christian Mekowolu (Casademont Zaragoza, Spain), TK Edogi (Kolin, Czech Republic) and Emmanuel Omogbo (H.Izrael, Israel).
NBBF President, Engr Musa Kida announced that the team will be coached by Alan Major and assisted by Ogoh Odaudu. They will stand-in for the team’s Head Coach, Mike Brown that just got named Coach of the Sacramento Kings.
Currently ranked first in Africa, Nigeria will open its campaign against Cape Verde on Friday, 1 July before taking on Mali on Saturday.
The last game will be against Uganda on Sunday, 3 July at the BK Arena in the capital city of Kigali.
Nigeria sit on top of group A with five points from three games. During this window, 16 teams will compete for the second leg of matches earlier decided in November 2021 and March 2022.
The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round where each team will play six games.
The two top teams in each group, and the best third-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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