Sports

Buhari Approves N25m For African Women’s Basketball Champions D’Tigress

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a cash reward of N25 million for Nigeria’s women’s basketball national team, D’Tigress for winning the Women’s Afrobasketball Championships last year in Cameroon reports Prime Business Africa.

Nigeria defeated Mali in the final of the Championship in Cameroon in 2021 to win the Afrobasketball women’s title for the third time in a row.

Following ‘threeplete’ achieved by the African Queens, Nigeria’s Youths and Sports minister Sunday Dare recommended that a token of appreciation be handed to the team for doing the nation proud, a request that has now received the approval of President Buhari.

D’Tigress on Sunday also qualified as Africa’s sole representatives for the FIBA Women’s World Cup holding in Sydney, Australia in September, after a hard fought win against Mali in the qualifiers in Belgrade, Serbia.

In their final Group B game, D’Tigress defeated Mali 73 – 69 to book a place at the World Cup.

It was D’Tigress’ second win after three group games played at the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

The Nigerian ladies lost their opening game to China before coming from a 20-point deficit to defeat world number two, France 67- 65 in their second fixture on Friday.

D’Tigress of Nigeria are to receive a cash reward of N25 million from the Federal Government

Nigeria beat Mali in the final of the Championships in Cameroon last year to win the Afrobasketball women’s title for the third time in a row.

After the victory, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare recommended that a token of appreciation be given to the African queens of the courts for doing the nation proud, a request that has now received the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In their final Group B game in Belgrade, Serbia, D’Tigress defeated Mali 73 – 69 to book a place at the World Cup.

It was D’Tigress’ second win after three group games played at the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

The Nigerian ladies lost their opening game to China before coming from a 20-point deficit to defeat world number two, France 67- 65 in their second fixture on Friday.

Izuchukwu Okosi

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.